


P5: Interlopers

by John_Fanfiction



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Friendship, Humor, Light Angst, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24124384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Fanfiction/pseuds/John_Fanfiction
Summary: Shortly after Masayoshi Shido's change of heart, Ann Takamaki and Ren Amamiya suddenly find themselves stranded in an alternate world ruled by a corrupt organization known as the Administration. With the Futaba Sakura from this strange new reality serving as their guide, the two friends embark on an adventure to return home.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro & Persona 5 Protagonist, Amamiya Ren/Takamaki Ann, Kurusu Akira/Takamaki Ann, Persona 5 Protagonist/Takamaki Ann, Sakura Futaba & Takamaki Ann
Comments: 11
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry to disappoint everyone, but I'll no longer be updating this story for the foreseeable future, and if I ever did I'd want to give it a considerable rewrite. Would you believe that I lost all desire to write about the world becoming a semi-apocalyptic police state in the year 2020?

  
  


"Hey, Panther? What is it like?" asked the voice in Ann's ear as she peered inside an abandoned subway car, finding the interior completely overrun with pulsating red roots and bone-like growths.

"Hmm?" She replied, not fully paying attention to the conversation. She cautiously stepped away from the infested car and continued walking along the rails down the tunnel, the clack of her heeled boots echoing through the otherwise silent tube.

"Back home, I mean." the voice clarified, seemingly hesitant to bring up the subject. "What is life like back home?"

"Uh, different, I guess?" Ann paused for a moment to come up with a proper response, taking note that the question had been asked without her navigator's usual brand of snark and hostility. "I just kinda do typical teenager stuff. I spend time with my friends, go shopping, that sort of thing."

Ann glanced down at the bright red latex catsuit she was wearing, cringing a bit at the thought of anyone actually seeing her in it. "Er, when there's time off from stealing treasures in the Metaverse, I do that stuff." The girl twirled the end of one of her blonde twintails around her finger. "That always ends up eating up most of your free time, y'know?"

Much to her irritation, the only thing Ann received as a reply was a simple "I see." Almost two full minutes later, no less. In that time, she had made her way to a dimly lit station platform and had begun rummaging around for anything that might be useful, although she wasn't having much luck. 

Ann deemed her scavenging efforts a lost cause, having only found an out of date newspaper and a stack of election flyers, both plastered with a face she was already sick to death of seeing. Carefully stepping over a cluster of parasitic crimson roots growing out of the cracks in the tiled floor, she set out to leave the platform and venture further into the station. 

Making her way up a short flight of stairs, Ann felt compelled to make an attempt to revive the conversation with her navigator, adjusting the microphone connected to her headset as she spoke. "Shouldn't you know all this stuff anyway? I thought things weren't all that different for you guys until the election."

Her question was met with a high pitched grumble of frustration from the headset.

"Alright, fine, you caught me." The resentful tone that had been missing earlier seemed to be back in full force. "I don't actually care about what YOUR life is like back there." Ann let out something between a sigh and a groan and tightened her gloved hands into fists as the voice in her ear continued on. She was once again falling victim to her navigator's attempts to get a rise out of her. "Honestly, I'm thankful you spared me from a two hour talk on the insane number pastries you shove into your face every day. That would have been a fate worse than death!"

"Then why the hell did you ask?!" Ann retorted at a volume that was far too loud, managing to startle herself with the sound of her own voice as it echoed off the walls of the stairwell. Hopefully that didn't attract the unwanted attention of anything lurking nearby. After reaching the top of the stairs, the girl quickly darted into a dark corner to hide, readying her firearm in case she was forced to deal with company.

After that exchange, a soft sigh followed by some sort of mumbled apology was the last thing Ann expected to hear coming out of her headset. The girl on the other line continued on, once again losing the harsh tone she had been frequently antagonizing Ann with since she arrived. "I was actually sort of hoping you could tell me about him."

"Ren?" Ann asked, as if Futaba Sakura would want to talk about anyone else. 

"Joker." Futaba corrected in a matter-of-fact tone. For whatever reason, the girl seemed to feel uneasy whenever his real name was brought up. "Tell me all about Joker!"

"What do you want to know?" Just like that, any tension between the two was gone. After all, Ann was more than happy to talk about Ren Amamiya any day of the week. The boy was on her mind pretty much all the time, after all. To say that he had made a big impression on her would be the understatement of the century. Then again, he seemed to do that to everyone, and she knew for a fact Futaba was no different.

"Just tell me anything! Even the smallest details, I wanna hear 'em! I'll even let you talk about pastries and sweets if it's relevant, hehe!"

Ann felt herself smiling at the enthusiastic demands, although the feeling was bittersweet. From what little information she was able to squeeze out of Futaba about the situation, the poor girl didn't wind up getting much time to spend with Ren, and was seemingly still trying to cope with losing him. When pairing that with the horrid state the world was in, it was a wonder Futaba hadn't once again shut herself away completely.

Ann struggled with the concept of losing someone like Ren, but thankfully it wasn't something she had been forced to go through. _"Yet,"_ she had to remind herself, knowing the extreme danger he was in at that very moment. Still, the very idea that there was some sort of freaky alternate world without him, the very same one she and her world's Ren were currently stranded in, nearly destroyed her. Falling apart wouldn't do her any good, though. She was going to stay strong for him.

She mentally prepared a list of everything she could tell Futaba about the boy in question. His kindness, his wit, his charm. How every time she saw him, time itself seemed to stop and she felt a warmth in her heart. Not to mention, he was SUPER cute, and have you SEEN him wearing his- 

Okay, maybe there were a couple things she felt about Ren that she should avoid mentioning to someone who was basically his little sister. Deciding to dial it back a bit, she considered telling a few funny anecdotes she had heard second-hand, such as the spectacular failure that had been the Operation Maidwatch incident. If this version of Futaba was anything like the one back in her world, Ann had a feeling she'd appreciate that particular story.

Just before she had a chance to explain how her normally level-headed leader had been roped into calling a maid service from an empty apartment with his friends, and then left alone to deal with the situation by himself, her attention was forced back to the current situation. Seemingly out of nowhere, a dark blob-shaped figure with an odd number of legs scurried along the floor just ahead of her, making a low hissing sound as it ran out of sight behind a trash bin.

"Shadow!" Futaba yelped in a hushed whisper, hanging on to her glasses to keep them from flying off. The orange haired girl had nearly jumped out of her chair when the creature appeared, despite only watching a video feed of the event from the relative safety of her room.

"I see it." Ann whispered back, slowly leaving cover and taking aim with her gun, ready to strike it down.

* * *

_Hours Earlier_

"C'mon, this is total BS!" exclaimed a particularly loudmouthed student, leaning back against the railing of the elevated walkway as he scrolled through his phone. He ran his fingers through his artificially blond hair in frustration as he turned to look at his classmate. "Seriously! That asshole admits to ALL his crimes, and it's like no one cares!"

Ren Amamiya adjusted his glasses as he looked up at the vulgar boy, offering only a silent shrug. Unlike his friend, Ren didn't generally feel the need to speak his mind. He was always happy to just silently listen to others, sometimes completely forgetting to voice his opinions unless he was specifically asked to respond. It was a habit he had picked up out of the desire to lay low at his new school. After all, the last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to himself after being falsely accused of assault.

It seemed that his strategy had completely backfired, not that he was complaining. Ren scanned the sea of pedestrians heading into Shibuya station through the walkway, wondering if any of them were quite as lucky as him. Against all odds and despite everything that had happened, he had found himself in the middle of a group of amazing friends who truly cared about one another.

Ren's best friend continued his rant while hopping away from the railing, taking care to shift his weight onto his good leg. "Did changing that bastard's heart even matter? Seriously, after all the shit you went through, this lukewarm response really pisses me off!"

As the boy finished his rant, Ann Takamaki joined the two, strolling up behind the loudmouth and placing two fingers against the back of his neck. "Seriously, Ryuji?" Flick. She rolled her eyes as she continued. "You're being WAY too loud, again."

"Ow! Hey!" Ryuji quickly spun around intending to retaliate, brows furrowed in annoyance. Upon coming face to face with the unusually icy glare from Ann's sky blue eyes, the best he could do was mumble a half-hearted apology. "Yeah, sorry. Gotcha."

"You're right, though." Ann agreed with a sigh, tossing her school bag to the floor. "This isn't how I was hoping things would play out." Ryuji's comments had reminded her of the state Ren had been in a month prior. He had shown up to his temporary home of Café Leblanc battered and bruised, the life almost completely drained out of his silver eyes. He had apparently even been drugged by the officers who had beaten him. Just thinking about it made her want to hurl.

Of course, that had all been part of the plan. Their hobby of forcing criminals to confess their crimes using the Metaverse, a world where distorted thoughts and desires become reality, had made them the target of Masayoshi Shido. That two-faced politician had been dead set on becoming the next Prime Minister of Japan, no matter the cost. The man had been using the Metaverse for his own gains long before the team had begun operating as the Phantom Thieves. 

Under Shido's orders, Goro Akechi, high school detective and totally insane criminal responsible for countless mental shutdowns, had uncovered the identities of the Phantom Thieves. He had planned to arrest and kill their leader, and then cover it up by making Ren's death look like a suicide. In Ann's opinion, one she shared with the rest of the team, that had gotten far too close to becoming a reality.

Thankfully, through a convoluted plan only made possible by Futaba, the team's navigator and resident tech genius, Akechi's scheme had been foiled. The cost, however, was that poor Ren had needed to let himself be arrested for the plan to work. Ann still hadn't been able to get any real details out of her friend about what actually happened down in that interrogation room, but she knew that his time in the custody of the police was painful, both physically and mentally. He tried his best to joke about the situation, but she could tell that the experience had left a permanent mark on him.

Ann leaned forward onto the railing lining the edge of the walkway, looking out the window and silently watching the vehicles travel under the overpass. The sacrifice Ren made hadn't gone to waste, at least. Thanks to his bravery, the team had been able to buy enough time to infiltrate Shido's palace in the Metaverse, stealing the treasure within and forcing the politician to have a change of heart. The man he had even confessed to his crimes on national television! Plus, although not through the most pleasant turn of events, even Akechi was now out of the picture. The day was saved, right?

Except nobody seemed to care. Every change of heart they had triggered before had captured the undivided attention of the media and the general public. They had taken down all sorts of criminals as the Phantom Thieves, and for whatever reason their biggest target so far had garnered the least reaction. She shared Ryuji's frustration, hoping to get some sort of payback for everything Ren had to go through.

"I'm just happy to be here." Both Ann and Ryuji jumped slightly at the sound of the voice, glancing over at their raven-haired friend. Ren was smiling at them, rubbing the back of his neck, something he seemed to do often when he was nervous or embarrassed.

"Nice to finally be back at school, too." the boy continued, tugging on the jacket of the uniform he was wearing. "I wish someone would have told me exams were coming up so soon, though." 

"Dude, you're HAPPY to be back at school?" Ryuji blurted out, seemingly offended. "Why the hell would anyone want to go back to that hell hole?"

Ren was elated to see that Ryuji had been effortlessly distracted from the heavy topic they were discussing earlier. Quickly stealing a glance at Ann, he noticed the girl still seemed lost in her thoughts, a small pout and distant stare plastered on her face.

Ren, to the best of his ability, was trying to keep his friends from getting too worked up over the aftermath of Shido's confession. He wasn't exactly happy with how things were playing out either, but it hurt to see the people he cared about fussing over a situation they couldn't do anything to fix.

Seeing an opportunity to snap his friend out of her current state, Ren gave Ryuji an answer. "Well, yeah. I missed staring at the back of Ann's head all day. I sit right behind her, you know."

Ann nearly slipped off the railing, catching herself at the last second. "W-what?!" With cheeks pink and eyes wide, she gawked at Ren. His normally unreadable expression was plastered with a familiar smirk. "Hey, that's SO not funny!" stomping her foot down, Ann leaned in and jabbed her finger into his chest. "Staring is rude, you know."

Ann, despite the teasing, found herself smiling and playing along like always. Joker was a master negotiator in the Metaverse, and it seemed his skills applied in the real world as well. Ren always seemed to know exactly how to make her feel better, even if it involved occasionally teasing her. Once, the boy had even said "I love you," completely straight faced. Granted, that one had been part of a game, and she had asked Ren to try and hit her with things that would shock her. Still, how does someone just SAY things like that?

"Hey, the others should’ve been here by now, yeah?" Ryuji added after recovering from a laughing fit at Ann's expense.

As if on cue, their phones all buzzed at once, and the three teenagers opened their group chat to find a string of messages from their friends and fellow Phantom Thieves.

**Yusuke:** I must apologize, but I will not be able to attend today's group study session.

  
**Futaba:** no money 4 the trains??

**Yusuke:** I received a text from my school, it has been requested that I return to the campus. It seems they would like for me to help a few of the other students get familiar with various painting techniques.

Also, I'll have you know I had exactly enough funds to purchase a one way train ticket to my destination.

**Makoto:** I'm in a similar boat, so to speak. Student Council duties are keeping me here way longer than I expected.

In fact, I was halfway out the door when I received a message full of additional tasks my peers failed to complete.

I'll probably be here a while, sorry guys.

**Haru:** I too will not be able to make it today. I just now received word of an important company meeting I am expected to attend.

I'm truly sorry for having to cancel on you all last second. 

**Futaba:** Oop! Looks like i've got 2 bail as well, just got a weird txt from Sojiro.

"Bring the cat", he says. good thing Morgana's with me today!

if it's a surprise trip to the vet, kitty is gonna freak

The three teenagers stared at their phones in disbelief.

Ryuji was the first to react, crying out in frustration. "For real? They all totally ditched us!" Before he could text a reply to the group chat accusing them of being up to something, his phone buzzed again. As he read the text, the boy seemed to do a double take before awkwardly shifting his attention to his two friends.

"Er, looks like I've gotta go too, actually." He sighed, turning his phone around to show his friends the text he received. "My mom just asked me to pick up a weirdly specific list of items for her, and grabbin' all that junk is gonna take all day. I'll catch you guys later, I guess."

As Ryuji gathered up his belongings and headed out, Ren and Ann turned to face each other, neither of them really sure what to say.

"That was weird, right?"

"So, that was super suspicious, right?"

  
  
They shared a quiet chuckle after talking over one another, before Ann picked up the conversation again.

"You think they're planning a surprise party or something?"

"Hmm," Ren mused, scratching his chin. "I can't imagine Makoto ditching a study session to plan a party." 

"True, and Ryuji showed us the text he got, so it's not like he was lying. Maybe it was just really weird timing?" Ann suggested, receiving a low hum in response. She was still unsure of what to make of the situation, although the blonde quickly realized that this meant she had time with Ren to herself, which was making her a little nervous. Would he even want to hang out, after that?

"I guess it's just the two of us, now." Swinging her arms softly from side to side, she desperately tried to lower her rapidly increasing heart rate by looking anywhere other than at the boy next to her.

"Yup. Just the two of us." Ren replied, calm as ever. Ann stared blankly at him. How did he say that like it wasn't a big deal?! She mentally chastised herself. _"Because it's only a big deal to you, dummy."_

Before either of them could suggest their next course of action, Ren's phone buzzed. Ann felt herself deflate, figuring he had also received some weird text containing the perfect excuse to bail. For a brief moment, she had a minor panic attack as she imagined a worst-case scenario where the whole team was secretly meeting up to hang out without her. She managed to quickly shake the feeling away, knowing that her friends were better than that.

Ren raised an eyebrow as he read the text over and over again. Any attempt to send a reply simply returned an error message. He motioned for Ann to join him as he turned his phone slightly to show her the strange instructions he had received.

**Unknown Number:** Joker, I need your help. Alleyway in front of Sujin Academy. ASAP.

COME ALONE.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: This story is taking heavy inspiration from the Half-Life series, of all places. I want to make it clear that you do not need to have any knowledge of those games or that universe to enjoy this story.
> 
> That said, a scene near the end of this chapter is directly based on similar events that happen at the beginning of Half Life: Alyx.

Ren felt a sense of dread wash over him as he stepped onto the station platform when his train arrived at Aoyama-Itchome. Someone else had uncovered his identity as a Phantom Thief, and had requested to meet him alone in an alleyway, which generally wasn't anyone's first choice of location if they intended to have a friendly conversation. This was dangerous, and he didn't want to put the rest of his team at risk by getting them involved. He was walking at a fairly brisk pace, and his long legs gave him an advantage over the girl next to him, who seemed like she was struggling to keep up without breaking into a full-on jog.

Ann had made it very clear that she had no plans on letting him investigate this alone. As much as Ren wanted to push her away for her own safety, he couldn't bring himself to actually say anything to protest her coming with him. Ann could take care of herself, he knew that. She was a tough girl, and could be downright scary in the Metaverse when she wanted to be. Despite his uneasy feelings, the rest of the world seemed to continue on as normal as the two of them made their way down the busy Tokyo streets, weaving through the busy crowds.

Before long, Ann started jogging slightly in front of the boy, determined to make sure he couldn't dart off and leave her behind. As she passed him, Ren eyed the red leggings she was wearing under her school uniform, reminding him of the catsuit she donned while they were acting as the Phantom Thieves. Like some sort of dominatrix, the weapon bestowed to her alongside her costume and abilities was a whip, and she seemed to be naturally gifted when it came to using it. In the interest of self-preservation, he made a mental note to never do anything to make her angry or get on her bad side.

The idea of being on the receiving end of her weapon was either terrifying or exciting to him, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know which of the two feelings it was. He was willing to admit to himself that he found Ann attractive, no matter what she was wearing. She worked as a model after all, so it was her job to be pretty. Still, when she was suited up as Panther... Ren shook his head, stopping himself. The boy shoved those thoughts away, annoyed that his teenage mind had gone there yet again. He always felt gross thinking about Ann like that, especially after everything the girl had been through.

Ren felt strongly that Ann deserved better. Not just from him, but in general. It seemed like people only saw Ann Takamaki for her good looks, staring straight through the selfless young woman who was far too caring and just a little too stubborn to ever give up on anyone. Ryuji had once described Ann as having an "overbearing personality" which is something that Ren didn't agree with. Sure, the girl had a bit of a short fuse, but she didn't take crap from anyone, and she shouldn't ever have to. Ann was brave, and Ren knew that she would do anything to protect those she cared about.

Hence why Ren knew for a fact there was nothing he could say that would dissuade Ann from following him into a risky situation they both knew was probably a trap. 

The two of them arrived in front of Sujin Academy, a white three story building behind a large gate. It was a sight the two of them saw often, as they attended classes here almost every day. Ren did a quick sweep of his surroundings, not finding anyone who looked immediately suspicious among the handful students who lingered around the campus.

Cautiously approaching the narrow alleyway across from the school's main gate as described in the anonymous text Ren had received, they were both surprised to find it totally empty. As the two slowly navigated their way to the far end of the alley, Ren's phone buzzed once again. He pulled the device out of his pocket, feeling the soft touch of Ann's hand on his shoulder as she leaned in close to peek at the screen. While thumbing in the unlock passcode, a strange sound he didn't recognize echoed out of the speakers.

**Unknown Number:** Perfect. Make your way to Leblanc. Try not to stand out.

Ann blinked, trying to wrap her head around the absurdity of the demands. "What the heck? Why didn't they just have us go to Leblanc in the first place? Are they just trying to waste our time or something?"

Distracted, Ren didn't register Ann's complaints. He had noticed a change in temperature the second that strange noise came out of his phone. The crisp winter air had been replaced with a slightly warm breeze. Glancing up, he was quick to observe that the lighting in the alleyway was also suddenly very different. What had previously been a pleasant sunny day was now overcast, a thin layer of clouds blocking much direct sunlight from reaching the city. The positioning of the shadows along the ground also indicated that the time of day had shifted from late afternoon to the early morning, as well.

"And 'Try not to stand out?' What is that supposed to mean?" Before Ren could reply to Ann's question, a slow wailing siren coming from the entrance to the alleyway caught their attention. The two teenagers spun around just in time to spot several heavily armed officers decked out in riot gear jogging past the alley, escorting a large armored van. Without thinking, Ren grabbed Ann, covering her mouth as she let out a yelp in surprise. The boy quickly maneuvered the two of them behind a large dumpster, out of sight.

The voices of the officers were deep, garbled and nearly unintelligible, as if they were always on the other end of a radio. Their helmets and thick armor covered their entire bodies, with no skin exposed. Outside of having different proportions, they all looked basically identical.

"Suspect is in custody, believed to be a high-level violator. Returning to checkpoint."

Ren sighed in relief as the troop of officers passed by the alleyway without paying it a second glance. The armored van slowly rolled out of sight, revealing a totally transformed Sujin Academy.

Ann inhaled at the sight of the school. As far as she could tell, the building itself was still intact, although the campus was now surrounded by a towering metal barrier made out of long vertical panels of varying heights, giving the whole structure a very uneven and messy vibe. 

From the ground, the only part of the school that was visible beyond the wall was the third floor, and it looked as though most of the building had been covered with large tarps. Dozens of gigantic black cables originated from various sockets along the length of the wall, draped over the surrounding buildings and extending out into the rest of the city in all directions. Posted vertically along one of the wall panels was a large sign decorated with some sort of biohazard symbol. 

_"CLEANUP AREA. KEEP OUT."_

As the two teenagers stared up at what used to be their school, an almost robotic-sounding voice recording began playing from behind the walls. "Attention, please. The administration has designated this area for metaphysical contamination cleanup. Those who attempt to breach this block are to be charged with medium-level violations."

Ann's eyes went wide, switching her attention back to Ren. "Meta-what?" she whispered, trying to make sense of whatever that announcement had been. She was reminded of seeing the school transform into a medieval castle when she entered the Metaverse for the first time. "Are we in a Palace?"

Ren was managing to keep his cool in spite of everything. At this point, he was pretty accustomed to being thrown into otherworldly situations. The boy shook his head. "I don't think so." 

Gesturing to his phone, Ren tapped the icon for the navigation app the team used to enter the Metaverse, although it failed to open. "The nav isn't working, but the other apps on my phone are." He proved his point by opening the camera app, which was something that wasn't normally possible while in the Metaverse. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, looking up at Ann. "Plus, this feels way too real."

Ann looked back out towards the school. It was true. Usually distorted people and objects in the Metaverse carried a bit of an inherently uncanny vibe, but she wasn't picking that up at all with anything she was seeing here. It was concerning, to say the least. If this wasn't someone's palace, what was going on?

Ren's phone buzzed once again, making the both of them jump. 

**Unknown Number:** WTF are you doing? A.E. is gonna start sweeping the area any second now. MOVE, Joker!

and srsly, try not 2 stand out

Ann sighed, getting up. Truth be told, she was terrified. Why wouldn't she be? They had both just been thrust into a strange, twisted version of the world with little fanfare and no way of knowing if it was safe out there. She wasn't going to let Ren see that she was scared, though. He didn't need to be worrying about her at a time like this. "They're right. I don't trust them, but we should probably get moving if we want a chance to figure out what's going on." 

She pulled up the hood of the sweater she was wearing under her school jacket, stuffing her blonde twintails inside to the best of her ability. They were told not to stand out after all, and Ann's unique looks as a quarter-american girl were easy to pick out of a crowd. "Not sure I wanna find out what 'A.E.' is, either." Ann added.

Ren nodded in agreement, stretching slightly as he stood. As the two of them approached the exit to the alleyway, Ren held out an arm, signaling Ann to stop. He didn't look at her as he spoke, his voice low and filled with intent. "Stay behind me, match my pace. If things start to look dicey, run."

It was a tone he had previously only used when giving orders to the team in the Metaverse, as Joker. Ann gulped, mentally unprepared for him to use it with her here. She wanted to protest, to tell him that there was no way in hell she was going to leave him behind just to save herself. She couldn't seem to find the words.

"Okay."  
  


* * *

Ann jolted awake to the sound of creaking metal and a thud as the cold surface beneath her shifted upwards. Rubbing her eyes as she took in the tiny room she was confined to, she desperately tried to recall how she had ended up here. The last thing she remembered before blacking out was . . .

"What about the girl?"

"Her too. We have reason to suspect they're both anti-administration."

Terrifying officers with distorted voices had taken her into custody. She tried her best to escape, but she was ultimately cornered and outnumbered. They had knocked her out by jabbing her with an electrified baton, just like they had done to-

"Ren!" Ann's eyes darted around, desperately searching for any sign of her friend. The room was dark and empty. It was a small, windowless metallic box. The only noteworthy features of the interior were a couple benches built into the walls and two sealed doors near the back. The muffled roar of an engine and the occasional bump indicated that she was currently riding in a vehicle, probably a van similar to the one they had spotted when they first arrived. Ann's lip trembled, horrified at what might happen to her when the vehicle arrived at its destination. Was Ren in a similar situation?

Quickly shoving her hand into the pocket of her jacket, she was relieved to find Ren's phone still tucked away inside. Slowly pulling the device out, she examined the cracked screen with a frown. Ren had dropped it after being shoved to the ground by one of the officers, and Ann had just barely managed to grab it as she made her escape.

The two of them hadn't gotten very far after leaving the alleyway. Yongen, the neighborhood that was home to Leblanc, was a little too far away to reach on foot. They had agreed that their only real option was to take the trains, assuming they were even still running. Making their way back towards the station, it was hard to miss just how worn down the whole city felt. Just about every building was riddled with dirt, debris and dust, paint chipping away and tiles missing. Walls and telephone poles were littered with faded and torn posters, and it looked as though quite a few buildings had even been missing doors.

Tokyo was devoid of any of the kinetic energy that it was famous for. The roads were completely clear of any vehicles, and the whole city seemed to be filled with the strange armored officers, standing guard and observing the populous. Several of them could be seen maintaining and guarding the odd cables coming from the school, which appeared to snake their way throughout the whole city. Each cable was about as thick around as a tire, and the heavy duty wiring looked to sometimes even run directly through buildings, leaving gaping holes in the walls. 

Outside of the intimidating officers, very few people seemed to be out and about. The few pedestrians walking alongside the empty streets looked to be determined to ignore everything going on around them, seemingly in hopes of avoiding drawing attention to themselves.

Ann had tried her best not to look suspicious, she really did. Unfortunately for her, the look of terror and confusion plastered on her face as she took in the strange state of the world didn't go unnoticed by the guards manning the security checkpoint near the entrance to the metro station.

"Present your identification number, now." The officer's voice was deep and authoritative, nearly identical to every other voice she had heard up to that point. The helmet they were wearing covered their face, and the visor was extremely reflective, giving no hints as to what expression, or even what type of person, was underneath.

"U-um, I don't know what that is?" Ann had squeaked out as she looked up at the officer towering over her. It was an honest answer accidentally framed as a question, and she was far too intimidated at the time to even attempt to come up with some sort of excuse or lie.

The officer had taken out a small device and muttered some numbers into it, before putting it away and motioning to another officer to call them over. He returned his attention to Ann as the other officer arrived.

"Come with us for immediate questioning."

The two of them made an effort to grab Ann, who instinctively took a step back in fear. Before the officers could make another move to restrain her, they were distracted by the feral growl emitting from the bespectacled boy who had suddenly appeared beside her.

"Don't touch her!"

Ann was thrust back into the present by a harsh bump in the road as the van rolled along. She let out a choked sob. Ren had stood up for her, distracting the officers and giving her a chance to escape. Tears splashed onto the cracked screen of the phone in her hand. The last thing he had done before being zapped unconscious by the officer's electrified baton was yell for her to run. What if she never saw him again? Her eyes widened and her heart ached, imagining what the officers might do to him if they were anything like the men who had arrested and interrogated him before.

Wiping her eyes, Ann stood up. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if he had to go through anything like that again. Hands balling into fists, she slammed on the walls of the van over and over. She wasn't going to let them hurt him. ,

Ann shouted at the top of her lungs, assaulting the cold metal interior with as much force as she could muster. "Where is he? Where are you taking me? Let me out of here!"

Ann's assault came to a sudden stop when a small panel in the wall slid down, revealing a window. Peering inside, she found it looked into the driver's cabin of the vehicle. Ann noticed the van featured a thin opening in front instead of a windshield. Much to her horror, she quickly realized it was designed that way with the intention of shooting out of.

Two men were seated inside the vehicle's cabin, both equipped with the same full body armor as every officer she had seen so far. In fact, aside from their heights, the two were indistinguishable from one another. Who were these people?

"Can you get her to stop making so much noise back there?" The driver of the vehicle seemed like he was at his wits' end, tapping his fingers along the joystick that was used to control the van. Even taking his body language into consideration, it was still hard to say for certain how he was feeling with how distorted his voice was.

The other officer turned around, pointing at her with his index finger. "Hey, keep it down."

Ann rolled her eyes at the lame attempt to shut her up. Opting not to reply, she instead focused on the road ahead. They were still in the city, although she didn't recognize the exact area. The van didn't seem to be traveling very fast, so she assumed it must have been really heavily armored.

The sound of a small thud on the front of the car caught the attention of everyone in the vehicle.

"Is that a cat?" The driver exclaimed, bewildered.

There was, in fact, a black tuxedo cat standing on the hood of the vehicle and peering in through the front opening. It was holding a device with its mouth, which looked like some sort of tiny homemade computer covered in circuit boards. There appeared to be a lot of duct tape involved, and the whole thing seemed pretty hacked together, whatever it was.

"What the hell is that?"

The electronic device started beeping as it was dropped into the van. Bolts of electricity shot out of the thing as it made contact with the dashboard before sliding down onto the floor. Sparks flew out of the van's unconventional steering mechanism, and without warning the whole vehicle started to swerve out of control. The cat let out a soft meow as it hopped up to the roof and out of sight.

The officers went into a panic.

"It locked up the controls!"

"Where did it go? Grab it!"

"I'm trying!"

"It fell under the seat!"

More sparks appeared as the vehicle accelerated rapidly, moving at a far greater speed than it had ever been designed to travel. Ann fell backwards with the sudden shift in momentum, scurrying to the back of the van as the officers struggled to find the device. That cat, could it have been-

"I've got it!"

Whatever that thing was, it sent out rapid bursts of electricity in all directions. The beeping coming from the small device increased in intensity as the vehicle's entire dashboard burst into flames.

"Throw it out the window!"

"I'm throwing it, I'm throwing-"

With a loud bang and bright flash, the entire front half of the vehicle exploded. Ann was knocked unconscious once again as her head slammed into the wall.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full disclosure, quite a few events in this chapter are heavily based on events that happen early on in Half Life: Alyx. I don't plan for the whole story to be like this, though!

Ann groaned as she came to. Everything hurt. It was hard to breathe, her lungs clogged with smoke. Coughing, she feebly got up on her knees. The van had crashed through a large wall, rolling over onto its side in the middle of a deserted alleyway. Rubbing her brow in a desperate attempt to soothe her splitting headache, she slowly crawled to the window near the front of the van. Her stomach dropped. If that was an explosion, did that mean those men were...?

Peering into the driver's cabin, she was relieved to find no traces of the gruesome scene she was expecting to see. The dashboard and seats were charred and blown to bits, but she couldn't spot any . . . remains . . . of the two officers. In fact, it almost looked as though nobody had been inside at all. What the hell was going on? 

The vehicle's radio was somehow still functional, and the panicked chatter emitting from it forced her not to dwell on the previous events. She needed to get out of here before more officers arrived. Managing to stand up after a bit of a struggle, she hobbled away from the scene.

She was pleasantly surprised to find that in the crash, the doors near the back of the van had come loose. With a kick, she was able to force one open, giving her an escape route. Crawling out of the vehicle, she suddenly found herself face to face with the wide blue eyes of the cat that had caused the whole incident. She blinked.

The cat certainly LOOKED like Morgana. The talking cat, who claimed he was NOT a cat, had been one of the first to join the Phantom Thieves alongside Ren and Ryuji. He was a good friend, although he seemed to think of himself as some kind of dashing and noble gentleman, which could get a little grating at times. It didn't help that in reality he gave off the vibe of a child desperately trying to act like an adult. It was kind of adorable, honestly.

She reached a hand out, and was more than a little surprised when the feline hissed at her angrily in response. In the process, the cat dropped a heavily modified wireless headset it had been struggling to carry with that tiny little mouth.

From the device's speakers, Ann heard a familiar voice call out. "Mona? What's wrong? You gotta give him the headset so we can get going!"

Ann quickly grabbed the device from the ground, dodging a swipe from a clawed paw as she put it on.

"Futaba, is that you?" Ann was relieved to finally hear a voice she recognized.

"T-Takamaki?!" Futaba didn't seem to share the feeling, if the high pitched screech in her ear was any indication. Ann heard a distant slam and a few muffled curse words come from the other end of the line.

"Futaba, what's going on?"

"Shut it, Takamaki! Where the hell is he? I was tracking HIS phone, so how did YOU end up with it?"

Futaba's repeated use of her family name threw Ann off. Maybe her head was still fuzzy from the crash, but they had been closer than that, hadn't they? Ann gripped the phone in her pocket as she mumbled out an answer to the other girl's question. "He dropped it."

She heard Futaba let out a frustrated grumble. "And you, of all people, happened to be riding around in the back of an Administration Enforcement vehicle with his phone, WHY?"

Ann felt herself starting to break down. The strange officers, being seperated from Ren, the van crash. It was all too much. She couldn't figure out why Futaba was being so hostile with her. Weren't they friends? Fighting back tears, she tried to work up the nerve to explain the situation.

Futaba, however, seemed to already be figuring things out in her head as she continued on, either unaware of or unconcerned with Ann's mental state. "Oh, dammit! You're Joker's, aren't you?"

"What?" Ann blushed slightly, unsure about the implications of that particular question.

Futaba sighed, voice slightly muffled as she slid a palm down her face.

"You were with him in the alleyway, right? You're the Ann Takamaki from HIS world?"

"H-his world? Futaba, where exactly ARE we? Ren is in danger!"

The mention of his name was all the confirmation Futaba needed. "Ugh, I KNEW I was forgetting someone! Of all the people to follow him here, it had to be YOU." 

Several blips on Futaba's computer screen stole her attention. She let out a sigh of defeat. "Look, Takamaki, you need to get moving. You're close to Leblanc, just follow Morgana. I'll try to throw them off your tail as much as I can."

Morgana, having heard every word, meowed at and Ann hopped up onto a wall, trotting along the top away from the wreckage caused by the van.

Ann, dazed and confused, got up and followed the cat without asking any questions.  
  


* * *

"So..." Ann began awkwardly, eyeing Morgana as the cat led her through the mostly deserted residential backstreets of Yongen. "Can't help but notice that Morgana isn't able to talk."

"Yup." Futaba replied with a pop as the sound of typing continued, the clacking of keys having been the only thing Ann had heard through the headset since she started the trek to the coffee shop.

"Is there a story behind that?" Ann inquired, hoping to get at least a little information out of Futaba about what the hell was going on.

"I mean, he IS a cat." Futaba replied, fully aware that wasn't the answer the blonde was looking for.

Ann sighed in frustration, kicking a discarded soda can into the gutter. She decided to change the topic. "So, why did you contact Ren?"

"Needed his help."

Ann huffed. "So you were just gonna bring him to this freaky bizarro world without telling anyone? What if something happened to him?"

"Nothing WOULD have happened to him if you hadn't gotten in the way, Takamaki."

Ann groaned, knowing Futaba was at least partially right. It was her fault Ren had been arrested. He was trying to protect her, after all. If she hadn't been here, Ren would have been the one rescued from the van, if he had even gotten captured at all. Still, it wasn't right for Futaba to just expect him to walk into danger alone! They were a team, weren't they?

"Also, from my perspective your world is the freaky bizzaro one." Futaba stated before returning her attention to her computer.

Ann took in her surroundings as she followed Morgana through a covered walkway. Empty streets, worn down buildings, and even an abandoned playground that had been half-dismantled to make way for a large cable. The few people she saw looked tired and sad. It was as if everyone was living in constant fear.

"You think this is normal?" Ann asked in disbelief.

"Uh, yeah. Has been ever since the election." Futaba continued on, switching to a mocking tone. "Our courageous and selfless Prime Minister says this is all for the safety of Japan's citizens."

"B-but, the election was only a few days ago!"

"For you, sure. Our worlds exist at different points in time. I think we're, I dunno, almost a year ahead of you guys."

Ann tilted her head, trying to wrap her head around the concept. "Huh? So this is like, the future?"

Futaba scoffed. "I figured you wouldn't get it. You're in a parallel universe, sheesh. For example, although we're probably identical in most ways, I'm not the Futaba Sakura you know."

"Oh, uh, okay." Her work as a Phantom Thief had made it pretty easy for Ann to simply accept the existence of another world.

Ann's response was met with a snort from the alternate Futaba. "I'll be careful not to totally fry your typical dumb blonde brain any more than I already have."

Deciding that was enough, Ann pulled on her twintails in frustration. "Agh! Seriously? What the hell is your problem?"

"Hmm?" Ann could practically see the smirk on Futaba's face as she acted completely innocent.

Deciding to try a more direct question, Ann pressed further. "What did I ever do to you?"

"YOU didn't do anything to me." The computer geek calmly replied, still typing away.

The compressed clickity-clack of the computer's keyboard through the headset was starting to drive Ann insane. "Then WHY are you being so pissy?"

"It's fun listening to you get frustrated." Futaba admitted honestly. 

"Well, cut it out! They've got Ren!" Ann could tell there was way more to the story, but she wasn't going to fight for details right now, not when Ren was still in danger.

"And I'M working on a plan to get him back. You're almost at Leblanc, keep following Morgana. Jeez, sorry for dumping an escort mission on you, Mona. Those are the wooooorst."

The cat meowed in agreement, glaring at the blonde. Ann could almost understand Futaba being angry with her, but Morgana? Back in her world, that cat only ever had the nicest things to say about "Lady Ann."

Following the feline around a corner, Ann reached a part of the neighborhood she actually recognized. To her right was Sojiro Sakura's house, a two story home that Futaba lived in with her father. She was surprised to find that much like the school, the building was completely surrounded by metal barriers and covered in tarps. More cables seemed to be originating from here as well.

"Whoa. What happened to your house, Futaba?"

Silence.

Soon enough, Ann and Morgana had arrived at Leblanc. Ann let herself in, the ring of the bell alerting anyone inside to her arrival. Not that there WAS anyone inside. The store was totally empty, and it looked as though the place had been torn apart. All of the lights had either burnt out or been shattered, so the main dining area was only lit by the sunlight coming in through the windows. Despite the low levels of light, Ann could make out coffee beans scattered all over the floor, and the shelves were littered with broken jars.

The whole place was eerily silent, and it filled Ann with unease. She assumed that Futaba was in Ren's room up in the attic and made her way to the back of the café. She eyed a large bookcase hiding the doorway that she knew led to the stairs. The blonde struggled to move the bookcase aside, and it created a loud screeching sound as it slid along the ground. Morgana squeezed in ahead of her once a large enough gap had formed, running up the stairs and out of sight. Ann followed with caution, pulling the bookshelf back into place behind her before climbing the steps.

Futaba had really transformed Ren's room. The attic space was large, but it was filled from wall to wall with shelves of monitors and other electronics. Ann spotted large towers that she remembered Futaba had called "servers" at some point, although she had never seen so many in one place before. The windows had been covered up by thick curtains, the only light coming from the monitors hooked up to the many computers, giving the whole room a bluish glow. Futaba was bent over at her desk in the corner, busily typing away. She seemed to be in her own little world, eyes fixed to one of the many monitors hooked up to her main computer tower, which had been set up on the workbench in the corner of the room.

Spending a little more time to take in her surroundings, Ann was surprised to find that Futaba hadn't decorated the space with any personal items. The girl's previous room had been decked out to the max with posters and merch of pop culture properties she enjoyed, but Ann couldn't spot anything of the sort in this new space. In fact, taking a better look at the room, it almost looked as though she had just dumped all of her electronics in here without touching anything of Ren's. There was a box overflowing with his clothes on one of the shelves, and she even spotted his school bag in the corner, collecting quite a bit of dust. 

Ann took a seat on the bed, waiting for the other girl to acknowledge her presence. Futaba, who Ann had to remind herself was technically a different person from the girl that she was friends with, looked a little more run down than she had expected. The orange dye in her hair was fading in quite a few places, and while she was wearing one of her usual outfits, the whole getup looked like it hadn't been cleaned recently. The faded green jacket draped over her chair was ripped and torn all over, and the white shirt she was wearing made the many food stains all the more noticeable. Was Futaba taking care of herself at all? It was hard to tell from this distance, but the girl might have even had a bit of an odor. If she did, Morgana didn't seem to mind. He was already curled up in her lap, fast asleep.

Ann coughed. This was apparently enough to snap Futaba out of her technology induced trance, swiveling her chair around to face the blonde. The girl's glasses reflected the light of the monitors in a way that hid her eyes, making her expression hard to read. "Didn't hear you come in."

"Oh." Ann replied, blinking in surprise. She thought she had made quite a bit of noise trying to move that bookshelf. The two sat in awkward silence for what felt like an eternity.

"Righty, then! So, about Joker." Futaba jumped out of her chair, breaking the awkward silence and sending Morgana flying. Luckily, the cat landed on his feet. Still, Ann was astounded. She hadn't even noticed he was sleeping on her lap?! Grabbing a remote control, she turned on a projector mounted to one of the attic's roof beams, using it to illuminate the back wall of the room with a detailed map of the city. They were getting right down to business, it seemed.

"What are they gonna do to him?" Ann asked hesitantly, unsure if she actually wanted to hear the answer. She stood from the bed, opting to instead lean against the wall to get a better view of the projection.

Futaba grabbed a laser pointer out of a box on one of the shelves, using it to circle a cluster of buildings on the right side of the map that Ann didn't recognize. "Depending on what he actually did to get himself arrested, they'll probably be taking him to one of their makeshift criminal holding facilities in the Kanda district."

"So we go there, then?" Ann was ready to do whatever was needed to get Ren back, no matter the risk. She needed to save him. Although, she was having trouble thinking of anything they could actually DO. They were just teenagers after all, and those officers were terrifying. 

"No way! That'd be like trying to beat the final dungeon with only three hearts!" The exact details of the analogy went over Ann's head, but she understood the point Futaba was trying to make. "Plus, there's no way we'd make it in time."

Oh god. Ann silently prayed that "in time" didn't mean "before they kill him."

Futaba paused and looked down at the floor. "When they realize they've captured the leader of the Phantom Thieves, they're going to send him straight to Shido."

That was a name Ann hadn't expected to hear. "Shido? But we-"

"WE didn't do anything." Futaba cut in harshly. She had put extra emphasis on the first word to exclude the blonde. 

Ann was mortified. They hadn't managed to stop him? Was that man really capable of doing this much damage? "So Shido never had his change of heart here? In this world, I mean."

Futaba rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed about having to explain every last detail. "Wow, you catch on quick, blondie! Pretty AND smart? I'm sooooo jealous!"

Ann folded her arms, frustrated that Futaba would waste time with mean-spirited teasing. Seriously, what the heck was her deal? As much as she wanted to get her to talk, right now they needed to focus on Ren. She addressed Futaba by her Metaverse codename, hoping to get the girl back on track. "The plan, Oracle?" 

Returning her attention to the projection, Futaba circled a massive, strangely shaped structure on the left side of the map. "The Administration building is over here."

“That’s where Shido is?”

“Yup. The Administration is what he’s calling his new government. He managed to gain unchecked control of the country once Japan entered a state of emergency.”

“Got it.” Ann replied. Deep down she was curious to learn more, but the information didn’t really seem relevant to the plan and the girl didn’t want to distract Futaba any further.

"They're probably gonna shove Joker into a prisoner transport car, which'll take him by train from here-" She circled the Kanda district again, before drawing a line across the map back to the other building. "- to here. FYI, the whole Administration district is basically impenetrable, so if they get him there, it's game over."

"So we need to stop them from putting him on that train?"

"Yeah, no. Like I said, there's no way we can make it to him in time. Fortunately for us, the only route for them to deliver Joker to Shido by rail is the Ginza line, which goes straight through Shibuya." Highlighting the center of the map, she continued. "Our best shot is to get there first and then stop that train. If we can do that, we can bust him out!"

"Okay..." Ann didn't like the sound of that. Stopping a train, like some sort of heist? She could almost imagine doing something that crazy in the Metaverse, but here?

Futaba pushed her glasses up her nose, shooting Ann a cheeky grin. "After that, all you gotta do is deal with a few Administration Enforcement officers." 

Ann's voice involuntarily raised an octave. "H-hey! Hang on a second, I thought you said 'we'!"

Futaba made her way back to her workstation after shutting off the projector. "Yeeeeaah, I'll need to stay here and monitor their movements if we're gonna pull this off." 

Futaba tapped her right ear, gesturing to the headset Ann was still wearing. "With me as your navigator, you've got nothing to worry about! Just stop the train, and boom! Victory conditions met! We'll get Joker back."

Ann eyed Futaba warily. That girl was far too confident in her insane sounding plan. After all, the only thing SHE had to do was sit in a chair and use a computer. Ann's mind began to fill with anxiety and doubt. She really didn't like the idea of having to "deal" with those officers, either. "Futaba are you sure about this? I mean, I can't exactly take on a whole army by myself, and-"

"You don't have any other options, Takamaki." Futaba let out a groan as she leaned back in her chair. Pep-talks were not her specialty. "Look, I've made it clear I'm not exactly your biggest fan. In fact, I really don't want to have to deal with you right now, or ever again if I can help it. In spite of all that, I KNOW you can do this. Joker needs our help. I can explain more on the way, but we seriously need to get moving."

"But-"

Futaba's expression turned dark. "If we don't rescue Joker before Goro Akechi catches wind that the Administration has somehow taken a dead man into custody, things are going to get WAY worse for all of us."

Ann's heart nearly stopped. She took a few steps back, nearly tumbling over as she desperately tried to avoid thinking about what had just been implied. "F-Futaba, I don't understand . . ."

Slumping down in her chair, Futaba lowered her head and fought to hold back her tears as she emotionlessly recited the news report that had been burned into her brain. "On November 20th, the suspected leader of the Phantom Theives was found to have comitted suicide while in police custody."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to thank everyone who has given this story a chance so far, and a special thank you to anyone who has left a comment, they mean so much to me and they've really motivated me to keep writing!

"You're gonna be making your way to Shibuya on foot, through the underground. That route is a little more dangerous, but you'll be way less likely to run into any Administration Enforcement patrols down there."

Ann felt numb. She nodded at the instructions as she navigated the narrow alleyways leading to Yongen-Jaya station. After dropping one bombshell of a revelation on her, Futaba had sent her on her way without allowing any time to process the information. Ann was lucky that she had made this journey many times before back home, because right now she was running entirely on autopilot.

The leader of the Phantom Thieves was dead. Somehow in this world, Akechi's plan had succeeded. Ann couldn't even figure out how to wrap her head around the concept. She couldn't imagine herself going on without Ren. The girl hadn't told him, but that boy meant everything to her. He had managed to help her wrestle control of her life back, and she couldn't have been more thankful. In fact, Ren seemed to have given everyone in their group something to live for. He didn't deserve a fate like that.

Even with the team's rescue plan in place, she had been so scared when he was taken into custody that night. Every waking moment during the leadup to that day, she had desperately wished it was her taking the risk instead of him. The desire to have been the one in his place only doubled when she saw the state he was in after he returned from the hell he had endured in that interrogation room. 

To find out that there was a world where he didn't even make it out of there...

Ann wouldn't let anything like that happen as long as she was around. She was going to save him. She was going to tell him how much he meant to her, even if it was super embarrassing. Ren deserved to know, and she was gonna tell him the second they got home. Ann blinked, thrown back to reality with a startling thought. Wait a second, would they even be able to get back?

"Futaba? You're gonna be able to send us home, right?"

Ann heard the rustling of plastic packaging followed by a loud crunch. Her navigator seemed to be snacking on something, supplying an answer with her mouth full of food. "Should be pretty easy, yeah."

Futaba's nonchalant answer only made Ann more curious. "How DID you get us here in the first place? It WAS you, wasn't it?"

"Mhmm." Futaba replied, still chewing. Thankfully, she stopped chowing down long enough to provide the rest of her explanation. "Just hacked into the Metaverse Navigator app on his phone, wasn't that hard."

Another compressed crunch was delivered to Ann's ears as Futaba continued snacking. The loud repetitive noise seemed like the type of thing she should've found infuriating, but all things considered Ann didn't really mind. In fact, she was honestly just relieved to know Futaba was remembering to eat. Back in the attic, the girl had seemed kind of . . . out of it. 

Then again, who could blame her? The Futaba Sakura she knew really looked up to Ren, and she assumed the same was true in this world. The two had both been living under the care of Sojiro Sakura, and they had quickly fallen into the roles of big brother and little sister. Ann could tell their relationship was quite a bit more complicated than that, though. They weren't biologically related, and Ren had parents of his own back home. Still, losing someone she considered family so soon after finally getting past the death of her mother must have really taken a toll on Futaba's mental health.

As for Sojiro, the lack of the man's presence at Leblanc hadn't gone unnoticed by the blonde. Ann was concerned, but she didn't feel comfortable prying any further at the moment. She doubted Futaba would be willing to provide any details anyway, considering how closed off to her she had been thus far. To keep her mind from assuming the worst, Ann rushed to continue the conversation.

"So the Nav can even take us to entirely different worlds, like this one?"

"It's not SUPPOSED to, but I managed to trick it into thinking this was a palace." Futaba's mood had suddenly lightened considerably, taking on a bit of a smug tone as she explained her methods. "Couldn't tell you the specifics, the inner workings of the MetaNav are super freaky. Still, pretty impressive for someone without access to the decompiled source code, huh?"

Even though this version of Futaba didn't seem all that fond of her, it warmed Ann's heart to hear the younger girl happily talk about her schemes. "Those weird texts to our friends, also you?"

Futaba giggled, enjoying disclosing the details of her plan. "Ehehe, good catch! I was able to send messages to anyone who had the app on their phone. I was able to track their locations too, so I could almost guarantee he'd be totally alone when I sent him the info ." 

Ann felt her heart break slightly. Her suspicions about being excluded from her group of friends had been true, albeit in an unexpected way. "And yet you didn't think to send a text to me?" 

Oops. Ann realized a second too late that she most certainly should not have said that.

Futaba scoffed, the good mood she was in evaporating in an instant. "What reason would I have to think that he would be spending time with you?"

"Wha- Because we're FRIENDS!"

Ann chose not to comment on the "And that's all you'll ever be..." that Futaba had slipped out under her breath. Hearing that helped her a little feel less guilty about ruining the girl's mood, though.

The sound of typing once again filled the headset. It was annoying, but Ann realized it was just something she was going to have to get used to. After a brief silence, the girl decided it would probably be smart to ask a few more questions while Futaba was feeling at least somewhat talkative. "So, what did you try to bring Ren here to do, anyway? You said you needed his help."

"Classified."

Ann sighed, she should have expected that. She tensed her shoulders a bit, once again unsure if she wanted to know the answer to her next question. "Er, I couldn't help but notice you and Morgana were alone back there. Where . . . is the rest of the team?"

"Busy."

Ann felt herself relax, if only a little. That seemed to confirm the others were alive, at least. She pressed on, hoping to squeeze a little more information out of the girl. "Busy with what?"

"Not important." Great, another roadblock. Much to Ann's surprise, Futaba actually continued speaking, offering some words of comfort. "Seriously, they're all doing fine." 

The confirmation that her friends were safe, paired with Futaba's willingness to share said information, made Ann feel way better.

"I'm surprised you seem to care, Takamaki."

Oh. The feeling was nice while it lasted, she supposed. Ann raised her voice, offended that Futaba would even imply that she wouldn't be worried about the wellbeing of her friends. "Of course I care! . . . And stop doing that!"

"Stop doing what?" The tone of Futaba's voice indicated that she knew EXACTLY what.

Ann slammed her foot down out of frustration. "Stop using my family name, it's weird!"

Futaba let out a little snort. "Whatever you say, Panther."

"Ugh!" At least the use of her Metaverse codename coming in through the headset felt slightly more normal. Ann needed every last bit of "normal" she could find right now. As she rounded the corner towards the metro station, her navigator let out a panicked screech.

“A.E. patrol coming in from your left, hide!”

A trio of Administration Enforcement officers was heading down the street in her direction, and Ann had been so distracted in the aftermath of her feud with Futaba that she hadn’t even noticed. She quickly stepped out of sight, thankful for the second pair of eyes watching over her thanks to a small camera Futaba had installed on the headset at Leblanc. Back home, Futaba had crazy skills when it came to computers, but some of the stuff she was doing here seemed like it was on a whole new level. The attic of the coffee shop had been littered with quite a few DIY projects made out of existing electronics soldered together. 

Ann held her breath as the armored men marched by, completely oblivious to her presence. It seemed that with no civilians around, the three of them felt comfortable having a fairly casual conversation. Ann managed to catch a small portion of it from her hiding spot.

"...a freak accident one sector over."

"Glad I transferred to this block, then. Did something manage to squirt out of the M.C.C.A. over there?"

"Negative. Prisoner transport accident. Report says the damn thing just lost control without reason. The situation even led to the escape of a low-level violator."  
  
Futaba let out a smug chuckle after hearing that. Considering all of the crazy tech she had spotted in the attic, Ann assumed the girl must've manufactured the device that caused the ordeal herself. She made a mental note to ask her about it once the coast was clear. 

"Is THAT why they've got us doubling up on patrols?"

"Now I'm really glad I'm not stationed there anymore. Director is going to be pissed." 

"That's one way to put it. Those guys will be lucky if..." The three officers continued on, now too far away to make out the details of their conversation.

Ann let out the deep breath she hadn't realized she was still holding. That had been unpleasant. The fear of being caught by Administration Enforcement was one thing, but even worse was the conversation they had been having. It was TOO normal. It humanized the otherwise featureless soldiers in a way that made Ann feel deeply uncomfortable. Did these people have friends and families when not on duty? Her heart ached. If that was the case, what about the ones that had been transporting her earlier? 

A few minutes after the patrol had left her line of sight, Ann cautiously got up and resumed her journey to the station. She figured it was probably safe to start the conversation with her navigator back up again as well. “Hey, Futaba. Did you make that thing that Morgana used to stop the van earlier?”

“Yeah, duh. I had to totally rip apart my old headphones to build it, too! You owe me a new pair, by the way.” Ann hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but Futaba hadn’t been wearing her trademark accessory back in her room.

As Futaba continued talking, Ann noted that it seemed as long as the topic of conversation was technology, the girl was willing to play nice. “Pretty cool, huh? I designed it to wirelessly hack the van’s controls, seems like it worked perfectly.” 

Ann blinked. That's all it was supposed to do? “Er, it kinda also made the whole front half of the van explode.”

“Whoa, really? Ooh, just like fireworks! Wish I could’ve seen that, it sounds totally awesome!”

Ann stopped in her tracks. Did Futaba not realize what that meant for the officers inside? “No, it was NOT awesome! Futaba . . . those people driving it, they were-”

"Tsk. Lighten up, Panther! You didn't see anyone in the cabin afterwards, right?"

Ann had nearly forgotten about that detail. Despite the aftermath of the explosion being very visible on the actual interior of the vehicle, there had been no sign of the officers in any capacity. It was like they had both disappeared without a trace. 

Ann still felt uneasy. "I guess not, but-"

Futaba let out an annoyed sigh. "Trust me, it's fine."

“Is it?” Ann challenged, desperately wishing that for once Futaba would just explain how things worked in this world, if only to clear her conscience. 

"Seriously, don't worry about- Ooh, you're here!"

Ann had been prepared to call Futaba out for changing the subject, but the view as she turned the final corner on her route to the station could only be described as otherworldly. 

The entirety of the city past Yongen-Jaya station was behind another one of the large metal barriers that had surrounded both the school and the Sakura residence. The vertical wall panels stretched into the horizon in either direction with no end in sight. Like with the other sites, thick cables could be seen hooked up to the walls and heading in every possible direction. Every city block or so a platform was built into the wall as a sort of makeshift guard tower, although thankfully none of them seemed to be in use.

Above what little of the tarp covered skyline she could see poking up from behind the wall, the sky was filled with dark clouds that almost looked like they had a slight dark red tinge to them. The buildings all looked like they were crumbling and falling apart, and Ann noticed that the entire top few floors of one of the skyscrapers was completely missing.

Ann heard her navigator clear her throat. "So, behind that wall is what the Administration calls the Metaphysical Contamination Cleanup District. Unlike some of the smaller sites that are limited to one or two buildings, that whole section of the city is under quarantine and totally abandoned. Shibuya is right in the center."

"Metaphysical . . . Contamination . . . Cleanup?"

"I KNOW, right? What a mouthful! I mean, I guess it gets the job done, but I would've come up with a WAY cooler sounding name."

Ann had kind of been hoping for an explanation as to what ANY of those words meant in this context, but Futaba already seemed to be moving on to the next topic. That girl’s mind worked way too quickly sometimes.

"There should be a big ol' sealed door plugging up the stairs down to the station.”

Ann nodded, ripping her attention away from the giant barrier and making her way towards the stairs that lead down to the metro platform. "Got it."

“Find that door, and I can hack it open remotely. Thanks to my handiwork, even someone with as few skill points put into their intelligence stat as you will be able to get past their security."

Ann huffed. “Hey! I get good grades back home!"

Futaba snickered. “Name one subject other than English where you score higher than the minimum needed to pass the class.”

She couldn’t. “At least I make more of an effort than Ryuji!”

“True, but at least Ryuji actually has athletic capabilities. He can, y’know, run and stuff.” It sounded like Futaba was having a genuinely hard time trying to come up with praise for the delinquent, but she seemed determined to see the difficult task through just to put Ann down. “Falling back on being a pretty model isn’t going to do you much good here.”

Ann rolled her eyes as she reached her destination. Sure enough, there was a large metal panel on the ground blocking the stairs that went down into the station. The blockade seemed to be connected to a robotic arm that probably handled the opening and closing functions. Painted on the large plated sheet of metal was a strange triangular logo paired with a biohazard symbol. She couldn’t make out what the design was supposed to be. It almost looked like a rib cage paired something that reminded her of tree roots.

“This thing doesn’t really look like a door. It is what you were talking about though, right?”

"Yup, that's it! Administration technology looks intimidating, but it's actually all super low-fi. Look in the bag I gave you, there should be a thingy that looks like a thumb drive with a little antenna connected to it. Plug that in to the port on the control panel."

Ann had completely forgotten about the backpack filled with assorted supplies that she had been handed while she was essentially being shoved out the door of Leblanc. Pulling it off over her shoulder, she found a team of superheroes printed onto the bag. She recognized the characters as the same ones from the figures and posters in Futaba’s room back in her world, although she couldn’t remember the name of the series.

Unzipping the largest pouch and peering inside, it looked as though Futaba had packed quite a bit of food for and water her, which Ann was thankful for. Closer inspection of the food items revealed that they were government issued rations handed out by the Administration. The words "beans" and "sustenance paste" had been written an excessive number of times on the packaging. The blonde suddenly found herself feeling very jealous, wishing for even just a small taste of whatever crunchy snack Futaba had been scarfing down earlier. 

Ann unzipped another pouch, finding that it contained a variety of homemade gadgets. She quickly spotted the device Futaba had described. Ann was careful not to touch anything else as she pulled it out of the bag. For all she knew, the whole backpack would explode if she bumped into the wrong button on one of these things.

After zipping the bag closed, Ann followed a wire leading from the door to a computer terminal that had been haphazardly attached to the wall of a nearby building. She quickly found a port that matched the shape of the connector on the hand crafted electronic in her hand. After plugging the device in, the screen embedded in the control panel flashed to life with the silhouette of a grinning black blob with cat ears. She recognized it as the emblem often associated with Alibaba, the online screen name Futaba used when hacking. It seemed the girl still had a taste for theatrics in this world.

Through the headset, Ann heard Futaba start to work her magic. “Heh, as usual this is way too easy. Sit tight, this’ll only take me a few minutes.”

Ann found herself sitting on a short wall while she waited, snacking on some bean flavored sustenance paste while listening to the sound of Futaba’s rapidfire keystrokes as she hacked the door open. (Seriously, how many words per minute was that girl capable of typing at?) The strange food she was consuming didn’t taste like much of anything at all, which was kind of a disappointment. The blonde had secretly been hoping that the bean flavoring mentioned on the packaging had meant coffee beans. At this point, she was kind of desperate for anything that could help remind her of Ren. That boy could brew a mean coffee, and living above a café meant he always sort of smelled like the stuff.

...that wasn’t a weird thing to think about, right? Remembering exactly how each other smelled was a super normal thing all friends did, wasn’t it? . . . Oh god, it was TOTALLY weird and super creepy. If Ren ever found out that she thought about him like that she’d completely shrivel up and die with embarrassment and-

"...aaaand done. Boop!" Futaba called out, slamming her finger down onto a key. Ann was thankful for the distraction.

Immediately, Ann heard a series of clicking noises come from the mechanism behind the large door, and she rushed back over to it. Clouds of dust exploded in every direction as the seal was broken, and the screech of metal rubbing against metal filled the air as the blockade was automatically moved out of the way by the mechanical arm off to the side. 

Cautiously peering inside, nothing about the stairs down to the subway tunnel looked immediately different to Ann, although she could see a faint red glow emerging from the darkness. 

From somewhere beyond the large barrier blocking access to the rest of the city, a robotic sounding announcement similar to the one she had heard at the school echoed in the distance. “Attention, please. Access to the Metaphysical Contamination Cleanup District is not permitted. Those who attempt to breach this block are to be charged with high-level violations.”

"So, what exactly are they even cleaning up in here, anyway?" Ann asked as she started her descent into the depths.

After an odd silence, she received a softly spoken answer from her navigator. "Mementos."


	5. Chapter 5

It was almost kind of beautiful, in a sick and twisted way. The dimly lit station had been totally overgrown with dark crimson roots. The parasitic growths were slowly pulsating, giving off a faint red glow. Listening closely, it almost sounded like they were expanding and contracting to the rhythm of a heartbeat, creating the illusion of being veins pumping blood. The infectious roots were layered into thick bulbous clumps attached to almost every surface, making it nearly impossible to see any of the actual materials the large room was made of. Strange objects that looked similar to bones seemed to be growing here as well, providing support for some of the heavier looking clusters.

Ann felt herself shudder in disgust as her laced brown boots sunk a good inch into the floor with a squelch. Not only were the roots totally gross looking, but they were apparently damp and sticky too. Great. Lifting a foot to assess the damage, she was horrified to find that the bottom half of her shoe was covered in a transparent red liquid. 

"Dammit!" Ann whispered under her breath, trying to shake gunk off of her foot with little success. She hoped this stuff didn't leave any stains.

Roughly halfway through trudging her way to an open maintenance door on the far side of the platform, Ann felt a droplet of moisture land on her nose. She was absolutely mortified to discover that the strange flora was growing on the ceiling too. The clumps above her were slowly dripping, effectively creating a light crimson shower. Quite a few more droplets landed on the girl as she resumed her trek across the room, trying to pick up the pace as much as the sticky floor would allow.

Ann REALLY hoped this stuff didn't leave stains.

"Ugh, this is so gross..." The blonde whispered, mostly to herself.

She received a reply in her ear anyway. "Agreed."

Mementos was a place the Phantom Thieves knew very little about, despite having explored the strange subterranean labyrinth in the Metaverse pretty extensively. Morgana had described it as the general public's collective unconscious, although Ann still wasn't entirely sure what that meant. The place had always been more than a little creepy, and the team often swore they could hear the whispers of voices in the wind while exploring the depths. The visual of crimson roots in a metro station certainly reminded Ann of Mementos, but there was something about this existing in the real world that made it all the more unsettling.

"You said they’re cleaning this stuff up?" Ann felt as though the Administration wasn’t doing a very good job if that was the case.

Futaba was quick to reply. “Haven’t really seen any evidence of it. They managed to stop the spread outside of the walls, but I think they just call it a cleanup area to give people a false sense of hope. The general public started panicking when this junk started appearing. It’s what led them to give Shido total control, granting him the power to dismantle the old government. He promised he’d be able to clean up this mess.”

Finally reaching the door, Ann was relieved to find that the maintenance walkway it led to was mostly free of Mementos' influence, although it was clear it had started slowly spreading into this area through the opening in the doorway. She closed the door behind her as she entered, hoping that would do something to help slow it down.

"So did like, bits of Mementos just suddenly appear in the real world one day?" Ann asked, glancing back to the room she had been in previously.

"Kinda? Er, not really. It's weird. I think I'd describe it as Mementos slowly leaking into reality. It started after Shido won the election, maybe around Christmas or something? It's been happening ever since."

"Really?" Ann was now very worried that this was something they'd have to deal with back home.

"Mhmm! It seems to only be leaking in from specific points, too. Somehow, the Administration was able to develop technology to keep it from spreading. They just put up some special walls and run some cables and the infection is magically contained. It's super suspicious, so I've been trying to figure out exactly what it is they're doing."

That explained the state of both Sujin Academy and Futaba's house. Ann was quick to notice the correlation between the affected areas. Alongside Shibuya, both buildings had been important locations to the Phantom Thieves in the Metaverse. "Those specific points you mentioned have all previously been home to Palaces, right?"

"Not bad, Panther! Basically, anywhere the Metaverse Navigator was used is a hot spot. I think that's why it's spreading so far out of Shibuya. Not only was the whole district home to a Palace, but we also used the station to enter Mementos all the time."

"So if this is happening here in reality, what is it like in the Metaverse?"

"No clue."

"You can't use the app anymore?" Thinking back, it didn't open at all on Ren's phone when they had first arrived in this world.

"The MetaNav stopped functioning the day after Joker w-was . . . taken into custody. Even though it won't boot up, the app on my phone still seems to be executing code, which is how I was able to contact the Joker from your reality."

"You've probably tried hacking your way into the Metaverse already, right?"

"Yup. No matter what I try, nothing works. I think..." Futaba stopped short, seemingly not entirely confident in what she was about to say. "I think we can't go there anymore because the Metaverse is in the middle of trying to completely merge with the real world." 

"What? T-this isn't our fault, is it?" Ann replied in a panic, eyeing a gooey cluster of roots and bones wrapped around a pipe lining the length of the hallway. Had their repeated use of the navigation app as the Phantom Thieves really caused this? 

"I don't know! I'm not entirely sure why it's even happening in the first place. I only managed to pull you guys into this world by having the app harness the energy from the leakage. That's why I needed Joker directly in front of the school, if you were curious."

Ann HAD been wondering about that, although the whole series of events already seemed so far removed from her current situation. Even though she had only been in this world for a few hours at most, it was starting to feel like an eternity. She was somewhat used to high stakes action thanks to her experiences as a Phantom Thief, but the stress of being seperated from Ren and the actual physical trauma of being thrown around in the back of an exploding van had taken a toll on her regardless.

"In that case, couldn't you have just used the Mementos leaking into your house to get us here?" Ann asked, curious to know if this whole rescue mission could have been avoided if they hadn't been so far from Leblanc to start with.

In response, Futaba let out a strange, pained groaning noise. Ann, thanks to her experience dealing with her own world's Futaba Sakura in the past, was able to interpret it as a sort of . . . guttural sadness emitting from the girl. She was quick to back off. "Okay, not a good subject to ask about. Sorry."

Futaba remained silent, not even filling the dead airwaves with the usual white noise of rhythmless keyboard mashing. Ann decided to give her navigator a break from her constant questioning and instead focus on her journey to Shibuya.

Reaching the end of the maintenance walkway, Ann opened another door leading to what looked to be an employee break room of sorts. Much like the station platform, this room was teeming with Mementos flora, although it wasn't nearly as overrun. The walls were lined with all sorts of faded informational and motivational posters, most of which stressed the value of employee conduct and safety. One poster in particular seemed newer than the rest, catching Ann's eye.

Ann began softly reading the text aloud to herself. "Congratulations. Your workplace has been selected by the Administration for Metaphysical Contamination inspection. All workers will be reassigned effective immediately, and rations will be docked by 50% until further notice. Remember to thank Shido-san for granting you this opportunity." 

Sure enough, the bulletin was plastered with the very punchable face of Masayoshi Shido. The bald man was giving Ann the smuggest look she had ever seen from behind his yellow tinted glasses, and it pissed her off to no end. This man had ruined Ren's life and countless others back home, and had done so many more horrible things here. That asshole was the reason this world's Ren was...

A fiery rage ignited inside of Ann. She ripped the poster from the wall, tearing it into bits while letting out a scream of frustration. Had she been in the Metaverse, she also probably would have also lit the shreds aflame with the power of her Persona; a manifestation of her innermost thoughts that granted her special abilities.

"Whoa, anger issues much?" Her navigator had returned, and she seemed to be back in full snark mode. Ann had just gotten used to the peace and quiet, too.

"Can it, Oracle." Ann shook her head, trying to calm herself down slightly. Okay, so maybe she had gotten a LITTLE worked up over a poster. She needed to save her anger for the real thing, anyway. If she ever got her hands on that piece of sh-

The sound of hissing stole Ann's attention, and she whipped around just in time to see a shadowy, almost shapeless figure slowly crawling towards her using an indeterminate number of legs. It was about the size of a person, and its form was rapidly fluctuating. Ann rubbed her eyes, it was like her brain wouldn't let her keep a clear picture of it in her head. Apparently her outburst had attracted this thing's attention.

Judging by the tone of her voice, Futaba was terrified of the creature. "T-That's a Shadow! What is it doing so close to the barrier?"

"Shadow? Like in the Metaverse?" Ann managed to stutter out as she backed away as quickly as she could. She had fought hundreds of Shadows before, but this creature wasn't like anything she had ever seen.

"Listen to me, Panther. Whatever you do, don't let it touch you. Just run!" Ann didn't need to be told twice, turning around and bolting down the long maintenance corridor she had come in through.

Quickly reaching the end of the walkway, Ann's blood ran cold. The door back to the station platform was jammed shut. She nearly pulled off the handle trying to force the thing open. Somehow in the couple minutes since she had closed the door, the roots on the other side had grown over it and completely locked it into place.

"The door's stuck!"

"I can see that! Ugh, I was really hoping we'd have more time to get the basics down."

Ann whipped around and pressed her back to the door, breathing heavily. She spotted the creature slowly inching towards her at the far end of the narrow hallway. She was cornered. "The basics of WHAT?"

"Backpack. Front pouch."

Ann ripped the bag off her back and scrambled to unzip it as the hissing got louder. Reaching inside, she pulled out a weapon of some sort. Despite her panicked state, she quickly recognized it as the model gun used by Joker, which functioned as a real gun while in the cognitive world.

Ann held up the weapon, hands shaking as she tried her best to aim it at the Shadow as it creeped along. "Futaba, you know this thing is just a model, right?!"

"Just pretend you're in the Metaverse, Panther!"

Ann blinked. Would it really be that easy? She had experience using her own firearm in the Metaverse, although the heat she normally packed usually didn’t require precise aim. She looked down the barrel at the Shadow's rapidly shifting form. She could do this, she'd seen Joker do it a million times before. Ann pulled the trigger. 

Nothing happened. 

"I-It's not doing anything! What am I doing wrong?" Ann's eyes went wide as she tried again and again to fire the weapon.

"Uh, I don't know! Keep trying!" Futaba seemed to be in full on panic mode.

"What do you THINK I'm doing?!" Ann shot back, pressing her back against the door as much as she could.

The Shadow inched closer and closer, the strange hissing only increasing in intensity as it approached. She pulled the trigger over and over, praying that the toy gun would somehow miraculously shoot a completely real bullet at the monster. No matter how many times she tried to fire the weapon, it didn't work. Why would it? This thing was just a toy. This wasn't the Metaverse, she couldn't DO anything in the real world. After all, she was just a normal teenage girl. What the hell was she even doing down here?

Ann dropped the gun to the floor.

"T-Takamaki? What are you-"

"It's not going to work." Ann mumbled, dropping to her knees.

At this point, Shadow was only a few feet away from Ann. She heard Futaba scream as the unsettling creature seemed to grow an appendage from what she could only assume was its face. The hissing ramped up in volume as the monster rapidly shifted between different shapes and states of being. Was this thing messing with her head? Ann closed her eyes, too scared to move. Not that she had anywhere to run away to. 

Futaba's voice was suddenly choppy and full of static. "Ann, no! Don't let it absorb you! Please, I can't-" 

The audio from the headset cut out, leaving the frightened girl completely alone with the creature.

Ann gulped, closing her eyes even tighter. The Shadow was going to absorb her?! As she started to comprehend what Futaba had said, it was as if a fog had been lifted.

Almost instantly, she was able to better interpret the hissing sound the creature was making. Ann slammed her palms onto her ears to try and block out the horrible noise. It was the tortured screams and cries for help from what must have been dozens of people, the sounds all overlayed on top of each other to create a constant tone.

Ann's eyes suddenly shot open. The Shadow was only a few inches away from her nose. Just then, the creature's lack of true shape suddenly clicked with her. The dark figure always felt vaguely humanoid, despite not seeming to have any definite features or even a set number of limbs. She could almost see strange white, featureless faces swimming around inside the murky black void that made up the monster. This thing was made up of who knows how many helpless individuals, and seemed to be keeping all of them captive inside of it.

Ann held in a deep breath, squishing her body against the door as much as physically possible. The Shadow's new apendge opened up, revealing a bright light. Ann suddenly felt herself growing weak, as if part of her soul was being sucked out of her. She was going to wind up like all those people, wasn't she? She'd never see Ren again, and no one would come to save her or anyone else that this monster had taken. 

In that moment, Ann felt her heart break. Nobody would be able to save any of those poor people trapped within that horrible creature. If she let herself fall to this thing, it would have the freedom to keep doing this to countless others. She eyed the gun laying on the floor in front of her. She couldn't let it end like this.

In her weakened state, which was only growing worse by the second, Ann found that she couldn't quite reach the firearm. It must have slid away from her after she dropped it. She desperately tried to figure out a way to get to the weapon. After all, she couldn't just give up! If she had given up back when she first met Ren, she would've never gotten control of her life back. She would've never joined the Phantom Thieves! 

She hadn't felt this motivated to do something since...

Ann directed all the anger and rage she could muster at the Shadow. Those poor people didn't deserve this. Futaba had said the Metaverse was merging with the real world, right? She was going to save each and every one of those helpless people from that creature, and she didn't even NEED the damn gun.

"Get the hell away from me!" Ann spat at the shapeless beast, slamming her eyes shut and tightening her hands into fists.

The girl was suddenly absorbed by a wall of blue flames. While it didn't harm Ann in any way, the Shadow cried out and quickly backed away from her. As the flames subsided, Ann slowly stood up. She was still heavily weakened by whatever that thing had been doing to her, but she suddenly felt powerful nonetheless. The girl glanced down at her fists, which were now covered by bright pink gloves. In her right hand was a whip. She felt a small smirk creep up onto her face. Perfect.

Ann lashed the Shadow again and again, finding the screams of pain it let out to be therapeutic. It made a leap for her, but she managed to strike it down out of the air with a well timed swing of her weapon. The creature practically shattered upon hitting the ground, the black goo it was made of melting away. White orbs of light seemed to fly out of the remains of the monster in all directions, and Ann almost immediately felt her strength return as a dimly lit one flew directly into her chest.

The blonde glanced down, noticing that her school uniform had transformed into her bright red Phantom Thief outfit. If she was being honest, Ann still kinda hated this thing. The literal catsuit was completely covered in zippers, one of which even doubled as a clip-on tail.

Loud banging from above her caught her attention before she had time to dwell any further on her wardrobe change (or search around for a large t-shirt she could maybe throw on over top of it...) Two smaller Shadows had burst out from an air duct overhead, landing at the other end of the hallway.

Much like the larger one that had come before, they were murky black creatures that seemed to fluctuate in shape. They both let out the same hissing sound as the larger one, albeit less layered, not containing quite as many voices. It seemed these smaller ones didn't have quite as big of an appetite for human suffering. Either that, or they hadn’t had quite enough to eat yet. Ann decided it was best not to think about it.

The two Shadows flew over her head in what looked to be a frenzied attempt to latch onto her face and suck out her soul, or whatever it was the first one had tried to do to her. Ann instinctively reached up to the mask that she wore in the Metaverse, ready to tear it off to call her Persona and set the little freaks ablaze. Only, she quickly realized it hadn’t appeared alongside the rest of her outfit.

"Gun it is, then." She muttered to herself, disappointed she wouldn't be able to let out her inner pyromaniac.

Ann dived for the discarded weapon on the ground, ducking into a roll before aiming at the creatures and firing two consecutive clean shots. Both Shadows disintegrated immediately, setting free more orbs of light. It seemed the gun functioned perfectly as long as she had confidence that it would. Loud banging coming from behind the sealed door in front of her caught Ann's attention. All this commotion had attracted even more company. 

Ann suddenly heard static in her ear, followed by the relieved cry of her navigator. "Panther! Is... is that really you? The feed totally cut out, what happened?!"

Ann had a list of snarky quips she could make, but she put that on hold when she heard the other girl sniffle. She had been crying, probably assuming she had lost someone else. Even if this world's version of Futaba didn't seem to like Ann all that much at the moment, she clearly still cared for her, if only a little. The poor girl probably blamed herself too, she realized. Then again, it kind of WAS her fault. Futaba completely failed to mention the deadly soul sucking monsters roaming the underground, after all. They'd need to have a little chat about that later.

"I'm fine, Oracle!" Ann braced herself as the banging from the end of the hallway continued to increase in intensity.

Suddenly the door she had previously been cowering against burst open, revealing the largest Shadow that Ann had seen yet. She made a few swings at it with her whip.

"Ooh, you unlocked your Metaverse abilities too! Total pro move! I'm so glad you're okay!" After a second, Futaba coughed. "Er, I mean, Joker probably would've been mad at me if anything had actually happened to you."

Ann found herself smiling at how far this world's Futaba was willing to go to avoid showing any sort of hint of affection towards her. Ann figured she'd wait and tease her about it later, now didn't really seem like the right time. "Okay, Oracle. I need some info now, got it?"

"R-right, yeah! What do you want to know?" At least temporarily, Futaba seemed eager to help in any way she could, which was a refreshing change of pace.

Ann returned her attention to the battle. The Shadow she was fighting seemed to have temporarily grown some large claw-like appendages, and she quickly moved to dodge the frenzied swipes the creature made at her. "You said these were Shadows, right? These aren't like the ones we normally fight. What the heck is up with them?"

Generally, Shadows were directly linked to real people. Doing something to them in the cognitive world would affect that person in the real world, and it was part of the process the Phantom Thieves had used to change hearts. Akechi, on the other hand, had been able to cause mental shutdowns by outright killing Shadows. It seemed that one’s cognitive self needed to exist in the Metaverse to function properly in the real world.

"They're what happens when a Shadow leaks into reality from Mementos. It's like they can't hold a solid form, so they try to steal the forms of others."

"So that thing was trying to steal my body?" Ann shuddered, briefly breaking her fighting stance.

"Not exactly. It was trying to rip your own Shadow out of the Metaverse and away from you, or something. I guess it would’ve been your Persona, in this case. If that monster had been successful, you would've suffered a mental shutdown. Ooh, nice shot!"

Ann blasted the large Shadow she had been fighting and it dissolved instantly. Orbs of light burst out of the melting remains of the creature, escaping the room by flying through the walls and floor. Ann wiped her brow, that seemed to be the last of them. 

"So when I defeat those guys, the weird lights that fly away are people's Shadows?"

"I think so? As far as I know, when you destroy any sort of Metaverse creature here in reality, it gets forcibly returned to the cognitive world. As for the light-orb-thingies, you're freeing the Shadows that the weird monster ones stole, yeah. No idea where they end up, though."

Ann was elated to hear that she might actually be saving these people. If she got her energy back after destroying that Shadow, she hoped the other victims would also somehow be able to recover, wherever they were.

Ann leaned back against the wall of the corridor, taking time to catch her breath. "What about my Persona? Why don't I have my mask?"

“Judging by the outfit change, some of their power comes through, but the Personas themselves just don't work here. Look, I don’t have ALL the answers, okay? This is still kinda new to me too."

Ann nodded her head in response as her navigator continued on. "Seeing multiple Shadows is kind of a big deal, by the way. They're usually super crazy rare, which is why I didn't even think I needed to tell you about them. Er, sorry about that..."

The distant sound of a hiss echoing through the metro tunnels caught Ann’s attention.

Futaba seemed to have picked the sound up through the headset’s microphone as well. "Aaaand there are probably even more of them ahead, too...” 

The rustling of papers could be heard through the headset as Futaba sorted through some documents. “Oh, right! They haven’t started to move Joker yet, but you should probably get moving if you want to reach Shibuya before he does. You think you can handle this, Panther?"

"I think I'll manage." Ann smirked, folding her arms. She finally felt like she could actually fight back, and she was going to do everything in her power to make this rescue mission a success.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I haven't mentioned it before, this is my first attempt at writing a story of any kind. That being said, hopefully the action in this scene flowed well enough!


	6. Chapter 6

Two hands slammed against the table in the center of the windowless interrogation room.

“Tell us about the girl.” demanded the booming and distorted voice of an Administration Enforcement officer.

Ren Amamiya showed no emotion as he looked up at his captor, noticing his cracked glasses were slightly crooked in the reflection of the officer’s visor. He tilted his head slightly to slide them back into place as he asked a question in response. “What girl?”

He had woken up in this mostly featureless room, strapped to a particularly uncomfortable chair. Soon after, two officers had barged in and started assaulting him with question after question. To be honest, the leader of the Phantom Thieves didn’t actually understand a whole lot of what he was being asked about.

“Identification number, now.” One of the officers had demanded.

Ren shrugged. “I don’t know it.”

The officer leaned in. “Which housing block are you assigned to?”

“I live in an attic.”

This continued for what felt like hours, and Ren took great satisfaction in wasting as much of their time as possible. At one point, he had been grabbed by the collar of his shirt, lifting the chair he was strapped to along with him. 

“Give us the identities of anyone else who you suspect may be Anti-Administration!” 

Forcing himself to keep a straight face, Ren eyed the second officer positioned at the far end of the room. “That guy guarding the door looks pretty suspicious to me.”

He was forcibly thrown down as the officer interrogating him let out a frustrated grunt. Ren shifted his weight forward as much as possible to keep the chair from toppling over backwards. As intimidating as these officers were, he had already done this song and dance before. He wasn’t going to let them get anything out of him. 

That’s why, whenever he couldn’t rely on actually being ignorant of the subject matter, he tried to play dumb to the best of his ability. They had asked about Mementos and the Phantom Thieves, but seemed to believe him when he claimed he didn’t know much about either of the topics. He noticed that when they probed for his opinions on Shido, they referenced the election as if it had happened quite some time ago.

Ren had managed to gather that this was some sort of parallel universe situation from the questions the officers were asking him. He recalled having a discussion at some point about the potential of alternate realities with Futaba after the two of them had gone to see some over the top superhero crossover movie together. He found the concept to be rather easy to accept when taking into account the existence of the Metaverse, and he was trying his best to frame his answers in ways that would get the officers interrogating him to drop more hints about the strange world he and Ann had been sent to. 

At some point during the VERY one sided conversation he was having with his captor, the second officer blocking the only door out of the room had received some sort of transmission and the two men had traded places. It was then that they had started demanding that he tell them about some girl.

“You were seen with a young woman outside the M.C.C.A. near Aoyama-Itchome. Who is she, and where is she headed?”

Ah, so now they were trying to get information out of him about Ann. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. Ren desperately hoped that Ann had got away in time. When those officers outside the station had tried to grab her, a strange fury ignited deep inside him that the boy didn’t know he was capable of feeling.

“I have no clue who you’re talking about.” Ren found that he had unintentionally laced his reply with venom at the mere thought of them trying to do anything to Ann. As much as he felt his reaction was justified, it immediately gave away that he most certainly did know the girl.

The officer put his palm up against the top of his helmet, apparently unable to believe that the boy he was interrogating could be so calm about the situation he was in. “She escaped a prisoner transport vehicle and caused serious damage. Do you even realize that you’re now both considered high-level violators?”

Ren had never felt so relieved in his life. Although Ann had apparently been captured, she had somehow managed to escape custody. She was safe. On top of that, it seemed that whatever she did to get away was giving these two quite a bit of a headache, which made him even happier. Way to go, Panther!

Truth be told, despite his calm demeanor, deep down he had been terrified. Not only because he was once again locked in a dark windowless room with officers who seemed to hold no regard for his well being, but he had also been struggling not to think about the very real possibility that Ann might have been in a similar situation. He didn’t want her, or any of his friends for that matter, to ever have to go through something even remotely close to what he had lived through down in that interrogation room.

The officer tried switching tactics. “Tell us where she’s headed, and we might be able to help you out of this situation you’ve gotten yourself into.” Between the garbled filter distorting his voice and lack of any sort of visible face to show emotion with, his good cop routine wasn’t very convincing.

“That deal doesn’t sound very fair to the girl.” Ren replied calmly. The man interrogating him let out a growl of frustration, seemingly immediately ditching his plan to play nice and instead getting ready to strike Ren with a powerful kick to the chest.

The officer guarding the door turned to his partner before he could make a move. “Don’t bother, we’ll get it out of him.”

His interrogator backed down and turned away as they both moved towards the exit. He let out a low chuckle that was made exceptionally creepy by his helmet’s voice filter. “That’s right, the genetic results should’ve come in an hour ago. Let’s see if this kid’s got any close family members we can call.”

The two left, closing the door behind them. Ren suddenly felt a little sick. Would they actually be able to do something to his family? He fought to break free of his bindings, praying that he would be able to get loose and escape. If anyone innocent got hurt because of him...

Ren snapped to attention at the muffled sounds of a struggle coming from the hallway beyond the door, followed by two gunshots. As the door to the interrogation room swung open, he was able to spot the one of one of the two officers outside lying lifelessly on the floor. Unexpectedly, a shaggy haired teenage boy stepped over the incapacitated officer, not paying the body much mind as he entered the room before shutting the door behind him. 

For whatever reason, Goro Akechi looked to be wearing the princely outfit he had donned in the Metaverse during his brief time as a member of the Phantom Thieves. The white and red garments made him feel exceptionally out of place compared to the heavily armored officers that had been interrogating Ren moments earlier. Notably, the boy wasn’t wearing the long-nosed mask that usually accompanied the ensemble. Although if he HAD been wearing it, Ren wasn’t sure he would’ve been able to take this obviously _very bad_ situation all that seriously.

Akechi brushed the bangs of his brown hair away from his face as he nodded to Ren with an unreadable expression. He spoke softly, using an excessively pleasant and obviously insincere tone. "So, the rumors were true after all. It has been a while since we last saw each other face to face, hasn’t it?”

Ren said nothing as Akechi approached the table. His brain was telling him to get the heck out of there, but since he was still strapped to a chair it wasn’t like there was much he could actually do. As Akechi leaned forward to get a better look at him, Ren instinctively leaned backwards.

The taller boy’s unreadable expression slowly creeped into a strange, demented smile. “Of course, that wasn't really you, was it?"

His breath stilled. In a flash, Ren felt the cold barrel of a gun pressed up against his forehead. He quickly looked up at Akechi, who just smiled back down at him with a twisted smirk, voice filled with glee. "You know, this was the last thing he ever saw.”

Akechi broke eye contact and used his free hand to rub his chin. “Surely you, of all people, can imagine the pure shock and terror he must've felt when he realized his team's grand plan to trick me into killing a fake in the Metaverse had failed.”

Akechi’s finger slowly moved to the trigger of the gun. Ren closed his eyes, mind racing. His rival had just revealed one key difference between this world and his own. The Phantom Thieves had lost.

The other boy continued on, seemingly enjoying every second of the interaction. “Oh, and just imagine how sad and broken all of his little friends must have been when their fearless leader never returned home to them!"

Ren had never truly been afraid to die that day. No, what had really messed him up was the thought of what his friends might have to go through if he failed his mission. This version of Akechi seemed to know that all too well, and as a result was able to get under his skin with ease. The boy began to tremble. Was that about to happen again?

All of his friends back home would have no idea what happened to him. He’d never get to see Sojiro or even his parents ever again. Would they all think he just ran away without saying goodbye? 

For reasons he couldn’t explain, the thought of never getting to spend time with Ann again hurt the most.

Akechi let out a quiet chuckle at the rattled state Ren was in. He slowly lowered his weapon, moving his finger off of the trigger. "Please, do try to relax. I don’t intend to kill you. As fun as it would be, my . . . business partner wouldn't exactly be thrilled with that outcome. You’re a useful asset to us, after all. Plus, I’m on thin enough ice as it is.”

Ren felt his restraints loosen as he slowly opened his eyes. The alternate world’s Akechi was looking down at him expectantly. “Besides, I have nothing against you. We've only just met, haven't we?"

A gloved hand was held out in front of Ren . It seemed he was expected to shake it in return. "Where are my manners? Please, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Goro Akechi. Who might you be?"

"Ren Amamiya." The boy replied cautiously, weakly shaking Akechi’s hand. He didn’t like where this was going, but he felt the safest thing he could do was play along.

The reddish-brown eyes of his apparent murderer seemed to light up as their hands touched. "Oh, that _IS_ different... What fun! Well Amamiya-san, I'm sure you're eager to get out of here. What do you say?”

Akechi turned on his heels, walking out of the interrogation room with an uncharacteristically jovial spring to his step. He shot Ren a smile as he waved back at the boy, gesturing for him to follow. “We do have a train to catch, after all!"

Ren REALLY didn’t like where this was going.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I can't thank you all enough for your comments, they really do mean so much to me! This chapter was a little shorter than usual, but hopefully the switch in perspective made for an interesting change of pace.


	7. Chapter 7

Futaba was struggling to contain her laughter. “That is a TOTAL Ryuji move!”

Ann giggled, happy that her navigator’s reaction to her story had been as expected. “I know, right?”

She had been traveling through the metro tunnels for an hour or two, and had fallen into a sort of rhythm. Make progress towards reaching Shibuya, search around for anything that might be useful, and pause to defeat any Shadows when they appear. Even with the constant threat of danger and strange Mementos flora slowly taking over parts of the underground, the journey was honestly starting to get kind of mind numbing.

“Seriously, with a stupid name like ‘Operation Maidwatch’ how the heck did they even convince him to get involved?” At least Ann’s navigator had toned down the hostility ever since they had started discussing the leader of the Phantom Thieves. It was making the trek at least somewhat tolerable.

“I think Ren just sort of has a weird problem when it comes to saying no to people.” Ann suggested, thinking about the boy with a soft smile on her face. For someone who claimed he was trying to keep his head down and stay out of trouble, he sure did have a habit of trying to help everyone he could at every opportunity. It was one of the many things she loved about him.

“Or, maybe our dear leader went along with Ryuji’s obviously flawed plan because he’s secretly into that kind of thing.” Futaba suggested teasingly.

Ann suddenly found herself coughing, seemingly choking on nothing. She REALLY didn’t need to think about that, thank you very much. She tried to change the subject as quickly as possible. “Speaking of Ryuji, how is he?”

Although they didn’t always get along, Ann had always harbored a soft spot for the boy. Not only had the two known each other since middle school, but they had both been victims of Suguru Kamoshida, the former P.E. Teacher of Sujin Academy. While that abuse was behind them thanks to the Phantom Thieves, it had left lasting scars. She hoped Ryuji was doing okay in this world. Ren had been his best friend, and she assumed life must’ve been hard without him.

“He’s fine, Takamaki.” Futaba seemed to grow cold whenever Ann inquired about the whereabouts or well-being of her teammates. That was one of the many topics that was off limits, apparently.

Ann, against her better judgement, opted to not change the subject. She was curious to see if the other girl would finally be willing to disclose any more information about what her friends were doing in this world. “What’s he been up to?”

Judging by the tone of her voice, Futaba’s patience was starting to wear thin. “Not really my place to tell. I doubt he’d want you to know, anyway. Same goes for the rest of the team, so just drop it, okay?” 

Ann figured now was as good a time as any to get some answers about something she had been suspecting since she had first learned she was in another reality. “Okay, clearly the version of me in this world did something horrible to you guys, so can you at LEAST tell me what the hell she did to make you all hate my guts?” Ann threw her arms to her sides and stomped her feet in annoyance. “I’m technically a different person, you know!”

Futaba’s response was about what Ann had expected. “Wouldn’t want to give you any bad ideas, now would we?”

Ann sighed. She couldn’t possibly imagine what her alternate self could’ve done to her friends, but it had apparently been pretty bad. Whatever happened, it couldn’t have been intentional, right? There’s no way she would ever knowingly do something to hurt them. 

It was probably best to give Futaba some space for a little while. Ann was certain that the girl was warming up to her, but if she tried to rush things she would probably wind up back at square one. For now, she decided to continue her walk through the empty metro tubes in silence.

Unfortunately, Ann quickly ran into quite the roadblock. The tunnel ahead was completely caved in. Massive slabs of concrete and rebar filled the tube, the sheer weight of the debris almost flattening a train and completely blocking the path forward. This was going to be a problem. 

Judging by the presence of a few damaged and smashed up vehicles near the base of the rubble, the blockade must have been caused by some kind of sinkhole that had opened up in the streets above. Looking up, she could just barely make out the cloudy afternoon sky beyond the rubble.

Futaba let out a low whistle at the sight. “Yikes. You’re gonna have to travel the rest of the way above ground. At least you won’t have to waste time doing any annoying backtracking, it looks like you can get out from here.”

As she carefully climbed up the piles and piles of rubble towards the daylight shining in from above, Ann had a sudden realization. “Hang on, so if the metro tunnels are all abandoned, destroyed, or only used by the Administration, what the heck was your actual plan for getting Ren to Leblanc after he got here?”

Futaba’s lack of response was troubling.

“W-wait, were you seriously going to rely on that van hacking thing?!” Ann was flabbergasted. The plan had always been to let Ren get arrested, even after what he had to go through the first time? That was _so_ not cool with her.

“It t-totally would’ve worked if you just, uh, hadn’t gotten in the way! Remember?” The total lack of confidence in her words only pissed Ann off further. Futaba at least seemed to understand that what she did was reckless, but in Ann’s eyes that just made it even worse.

Ann laid into her navigator as she struggled to pull herself up onto a ledge. “Ugh! That’s so irresponsible! You were seriously gonna put him in that much danger, after everything he’s been through? What about after everything that happened to him in THIS world?” She knew she was walking an incredibly thin line with her choice of words, but at the moment she didn’t really care. She was furious.

“I NEEDED his help. I didn’t have any other choice.” Futaba mumbled out in response.

“Seriously? What could have been so important that you were willing to take a risk that big with him?” 

“That’s on a need to know basis, Takamaki.”

Hell no. There was no way Ann was going to let that fly this time. “Well, I need to know. This is Ren we’re talking about, Futaba. The second we rescue him, he’s going to drop everything and do whatever he can to help you, no matter what. That’s just who he is. And by now YOU should know that there’s no way I’m gonna let him do it alone, either.”

Ann heard Futaba grumble something under her breath, but she couldn’t make out what was said.

The blonde wiped her brow after climbing up onto a large piece of debris, taking a break from the ascent to catch her breath and give her tired arms some much needed rest. She let out a long sigh, deciding to tone down her assault a bit. “Look... Obviously, you had your reasons to bring him here. You know how I feel about it, and I have no idea what Ren is gonna think. This is clearly a big deal to you, and BOTH of us are going to do our best to help, okay? Just please, tell me what’s going on...”

Futaba let out a long, muffled groan as she buried her face into her arms. “S-Shido is planning something. I don’t know all the details yet, but I just know that absolutely everyone is in danger. He’s been going on and on about how the crisis will be over soon, and keeps using phrases like “new era” and “total societal reform” in his daily propaganda broadcasts. From what I’ve been able to gather by hacking into the Administration’s construction network, they’re building something big . . . using my mom’s research.”

Futaba’s mother had been an important researcher in the field of Cognitive Psience. While most people outside of the Phantom Thieves were completely unaware of the existence of the Metaverse, Wakaba Isshiki had dedicated her life to studying the strange cognitive realm created by the human mind. Unfortunately, that made her someone Shido felt the need to dispose of. Under his father’s orders, Goro Akechi had caused the woman to suffer a mental shutdown, and her research had been stolen.

The whole ordeal had broken Futaba. The girl had only recently recovered thanks to the efforts of Ren, along with help from the rest of the Phantom Thieves. He really had a habit of saving people, didn’t he? Ann supposed it made complete sense that without her reality’s Ren around to lean on, she would try to find a way to get help from another one. It didn’t seem like a healthy way of thinking, but Ann suddenly felt that she might have made the same decision had she been in that scenario.

Without warning, Futaba seemed to completely break down. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t have anyone else to turn to! I couldn’t ask the rest of the team for help because they’re always so busy saving people from Shido and the Administration. They’re always so exhausted… They’ve got enough on their plate as it is.”

Hearing Futaba’s quiet sobs filled Ann with guilt. She had been frustrated beyond belief at Futaba’s actions so far, but this wasn’t the reaction she was hoping for. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to comfort Futaba and apologize for yelling at her, but she realized she needed to hang back. Her navigator was finally starting to share information that would let Ann piece together everything that had happened. Once she could better understand the situation, she’d be able to figure out what she could do to actually help the lonely girl.

The sound of full-on crying could be heard coming through the headset now. Futaba tried her best to work through her tears and continued venting her pent up frustrations. “A-and poor Morgana has been slowly turning into a regular cat and I can’t even figure out how to help him! He was the only one I had left to talk to w-when Sojiro’s...” Futaba trailed off. It appeared that the wound was far too fresh for the girl to talk about out loud.

As she suspected, something HAD happened to Sojiro, although it wasn't clear what. It didn’t sound good, that was for certain. Ann started to feel tears welling up in her own eyes, feeling sympathy for the poor girl currently crying her heart out alone in her room. Futaba really didn’t have anyone left, did she?

Futaba slammed her desk with a fist as she continued again. “Plus, if you haven’t noticed, my Joker is dead! What was I supposed to do? I can’t do anything on my own, and now Shido is using Mom’s research to make some crazy weapon. He’s going to hurt even more people and-”

Ann had heard enough. “We’re not going to let him hurt anyone else, Futaba. I promise.”

* * *

“Hostiles incoming! Suspects are confirmed to be Anti-Administration!” The two men positioned to either side of the Administration Officer barking the orders readied their semi-automatic weapons, pointing them at the barricaded garage door of the warehouse they were assigned to guard.

Without making a sound, two teenagers hopped down from the rafters and landed behind the trio. Ren watched in stunned silence as Akechi effortlessly put a bullet through each of their heads one by one. He held his breath as he started counting in his head.

Three…

Two…

One...

Right on schedule, all three bodies disintegrated without leaving even the slightest trace that they had ever even existed. Ren let himself relax a little.

Akechi turned to Ren, flashing him an amused smile. The boy seemed to be enjoying just how uncomfortable his actions had made his new partner in crime. “Must you act this way every time we find ourselves in combat, Joker?”

“My team doesn’t murder people.” Ren simply stated, using one of his red gloved hands to adjust the cuff links of his tailcoat as he walked away from the scene.

Akechi quickly caught up to his temporary ally, falling in line beside him as they made their way deeper into the building. “Nor does my team, for that matter. I’m simply sending these Shadows back to the Metaverse, where they belong.”

Ren silently wondered who the other members of the team Akechi spoke of could be. He had mentioned a business partner of sorts back in the interrogation room, which Ren had found quite odd. The Goro Akechi from his world had been pretty clear about working alone in his quest to get revenge on Shido.

The two of them had been fighting their way further into the depths of the criminal holding facility Ren had woken up in. Well, Akechi had been doing most of the fighting, truth be told. While he had gained access to his Metaverse abilities in the real world thanks to a brief rundown from Akechi, he hadn’t actually found an opportunity where he felt comfortable enough to use them yet. The soldiers just seemed . . . too human.

“Administration Enforcement is made up entirely of people's Shadows?” Ren asked.

“For the most part, yes. More specifically, they're the Shadows of citizens who accept his rule. They simply pluck the Shadow out of the Metaverse and put it to work. They return to the Metaverse when they die, so if one falls in battle they can always just pull it back into reality again.”

Ren supposed it made sense. An infinitely regenerating army limited in scale only by the number of people loyal to the Administration meant that they were virtually unstoppable. The presence of Shadows in the real world had him concerned, however. “If Shadows are here in reality instead of the Metaverse, wouldn’t the real people they’re linked to-”

“Suffer a mental shutdown? Good deduction. After signing their pathetic little lives away at the recruitment offices, the actual civilians are kept on life support somewhere beyond the walls of the Administration District. It’s my belief that most active Administration Enforcement officers aren’t even aware they’re not the real person.”

"That explains a lot." Though his conscience was feeling a little more clear, Ren wouldn't have put it past Akechi to have taken down the guards without hesitation if they had just been normal people. Even while still being a high school student, Akechi had already taken the lives of so many. Ren would never be able to simply look past that. Still, right now an alliance seemed to be in his best interest, so he begrudgingly played along.

In spite of his many unforgivable crimes, Akechi had always been strangely easy to hold a conversation with. Even though Ren was very uneasy about being in the psychopath’s presence, even now it felt like no topic was off limits. Ren decided to ask a question with an obvious answer but a lot of pieces missing, hoping the detective would fill in the blanks. “So I take it your plan to get rid of your father didn’t go as you’d hoped?”

Unexpectedly, Akechi stopped in his tracks. “I don’t believe I ever told you about my relation to that man.”

Ren continued walking, enjoying that for once he seemed to have the upper hand. He shrugged, trying his best to be nonchalant as he discussed events that his doppelganger in this world hadn’t gotten the chance to experience with the very person who had murdered him. “It was after the interrogation.”

As he continued along through the warehouse, he took time to better examine his surroundings. The building had clearly been repurposed, and had been haphazardly retrofitted with the strange, almost futuristic-looking technology used by the Administration. The leader of the Phantom Thieves wasn’t exactly sure what they were looking for down here, but he figured it was better than being locked up back in that interrogation room. Akechi had mentioned something about a train, hadn’t he?

Realizing that he was being left behind, Akechi rushed to catch up to Ren. "You are correct, though. Not being able to use the Metaverse Navigator made me of no use to him." 

He suddenly clenched his fists tightly, his voice switching from his usual uncannily pleasant tone to one of pure venom and hatred. "I was once again cast aside and forgotten about by that man." 

The boy closed his eyes as he filled the room with pained laughter. "Without my oh so useful skill of accessing the cognitive world, he didn't even deem me worth the trouble of silencing."

Ren said nothing in response as the two of them stepped into a large freight elevator on the far side of the warehouse.

After pushing the button for the basement floor, Akechi turned to Ren. The fake pleasantness in his voice was back almost immediately. “So, seeing as you're currently standing here beside me, I take that to mean in the world you come from, the Phantom Thieves actually managed to finish me off at some point?”

The elevator doors closed as the two started their descent. 

“Like I already said, my team doesn’t murder people.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay in getting this chapter out there! Unfortunately, updates to this story in general will probably slow down dramatically from this point forward due to the many projects I need to juggle in my daily life. Thank you all for reading so far, though! I really appreciate it!

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to give a special thanks to each and every one of you who has taken the time to read this story. Sorry to disappoint you without a continuation. I'd still love to hear what you think, and you're more than welcome to totally steal this concept if you want.


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